new friends, new horizons
by Jangocommando27
Summary: Miho and the girls get a new friend and new tankery rules. I don't own Girls und panzer or school rumble or any characters from other animes encore rated into this ( stratos 4 and High school DxD) and thus any of the canon characters. All original content is my own
1. Chapter 1

New horizons, new friends

Chapter 1: welcome to Ōarai 

Miho looked at the E-mail on her computer, a feeling of shock rippled through her body. She had mixed feelings about the message that the E-mail carried. It was a message from the school council and faculty. The E-mail read:

_Dear Ōarai Girls high school students, _

_ In the aftermath of the events of last year, the school board has seen fit to expand our student numbers. While the school has been saved from being closed by the Ōarai tankery team by winning the __Sensha-dō tournament last year, the school financial situation remains an issue. As such, the school has seen fit to conduct a trial run with the eventual conversion to a Co-educational school. We understand that this may come as a shock to some parents and students and this may raise some concerns but we have seen fit to conduct a trial run over the next academic year with 6 male students transferring to __Ōarai Girls high school. There will be strict rules imposed on the new students regarding intimate relationships with female students and any infringement will result in the immediate suspension of the students in question pending further questioning. The new male students will be arriving the day before the start of the New Year and will start the New Year along with all normal pupils. _

_ As a sign of welcome to the new students, we would be grateful if representatives from the student body aside from the school council could be present at the airfield tomorrow to welcome the new students when they land tomorrow at 9am. This is purely voluntary and is just so that the pupils can be greeted by members of the school other than the members of the faculty._

_With regards and the best hopes for the upcoming academic year,_

_Student council and senior management team of Ōarai Girls high school. _

Miho gathered her thoughts, the school year started on the day after tomorrow so the new students would be arriving tomorrow. She was wondering what they would be like, the new students. She decided that she would go and meet the new students. She pulled out her phone and quickly typed a text to the rest of anglerfish team, asking if they would go with her. They all agreed to go and to meet by the Tankery sheds and to take the panzer IV. With that decided, she closed her computer and headed for bed.

Ōarai Airfield, 9:05am

Miho looked out over the airfield. Ōarai's airfield was small, usually only accommodating small business jets and helicopters used for ferrying students to and from the mainland. She and the rest if anglerfish team were sitting in their panzer IV. She looked at her watch and saw the time, 0_9:05. _They were late.She looked over to the school council; they had bought their hetzer tank destroyer from the tankery team. Anzu, the school council president was sunbathing on the slopped frontal armour of the tank destroyer along with her vice president Yuzu. The trio was completed with the PR manger Momo; she had a pair of binoculars pressed to her eyes, scanning the skies for any aircraft.

"Where the hell are they?" she growled.

"Now now Momo." Said the principal, "I'm sure their just running a bit late, they'll be here soon."

"Yes, sir" said Momo, reluctantly. Miho smiled, and placed her binoculars to her eyes, scanning the skies. She spotted, something, a black speck against a white cloud.

"There they are!" she cried. She jumped down from her turret and the rest of her crew dismounted and stood up against the tank. Miho retrained her binoculars on the speck, the speck grew larger and then split into 2. "What the...?" she thought. She lowered her binoculars and looked, the specks grew closer and 2 aircraft appeared over the airfield. The first was a small twin engine passenger plane. It set down on the runway and taxied to a stop. The other, was not a passenger plane. It was far smaller, much sleeker and more beautiful. Its single engine's sound rolled across the airfield like thunder. It came in low and screamed overhead in a low level flyby. It rolled onto its wingtip and the distinctive oval wing shape immediately gave away its identity.

"That's a Spitfire!" cried Yukari, pointing to the aircraft. It circled around the airfield and lined up on the runway, lowering its landing gear at the last moment. It touched down in a perfect 3 point landing, its engine's roar quietening to a purr as it taxied to a halt next to the small passenger plane. The engine came to a stop and the noise died down. The canopy opened, and a tall teenager, wearing a: leather jacket, jeans, boots, flying goggles and hat, and a parachute. He was tall and had bright blue eyes and short cut, bright red hair. He climbed out and jumped off the back of the Spitfire's wing and walked toward to the group of Ōarai students and staff. The headmaster walked forward and greeted the teenage pilot. He raised his hand and said

"Welcome to Ōarai, I am Principal Aso Hiroyoshi, headmaster at Ōarai Girls high school, welcome."

"Thank you I'm Nicholas White, It's an honour to be here." Said the teenage flyer in perfect Japanese with a slight British accent, taking the principles hand and shaking it.

"This is Miho Nishizumi, commander of the Ōarai Sensha-dō team" said the Principal, gesturing to Miho who froze if shyness, Hana pushed her forward and she stumbled forward to the Principal's side. She froze, shyness overcoming her. She bowed to Nicholas and said,

"Welcome". Nicholas smiled and said in a kind voice,

"I think I should be the one bowing to one of such skill and honour", he bowed to Miho, who stood shocked by the gesture. He rose and raised shook her hand. "It is an honour to meet you Nishizumi- chan."

"Likewise" said Miho, a smile on her face. 5 other teenage boys emerged from the small passenger plane. The rest of Anglerfish team and the school council advanced to meet the new arrivals. Miho continued to talk with Nicholas.

"That is a fine Tank" said Nicholas, "Panzer IV Ausf H right?"

"Right" said Miho, "Want to have a look?"

"Sure" said Nicholas. Miho lead Nicholas over to the Panzer IV. They climbed up the Tanks armour to the top of the turret. Nicholas undid the straps on his parachute, placing it on the top of the tank and dropped into the tank, settling in the gunner's seat and Miho dropped into her commander's seat.

"Good thing I'm not claustrophobic" said Nicholas, he pressed the eye to the sight of the Main gun. Miho looked down at him with a smile. Nicholas looked up from the sight and looked up at Miho and smiled, the two stared at each other, silence only tensioning the moment.

"So..." Said Nicholas, trying to ease the awkwardness of the moment, "What's it like at Ōarai?"

"Um... it's really nice, the people are friendly and..." Said Miho, she was interrupted by Saori; she put her head through the commanders hatch.

"Hey Miho where are you..." she paused after seeing Nicholas in the turret with Miho. "Miho blushed and Saori wore a huge smile on her face and backed off snickering "Sorry didn't mean to interrupt you."

"No! Wait! Saori I..." Miho cried out but Saori was gone, Miho blushed heavily and suddenly found the turrets floor fascinating. Nicholas, seeing what he had done, decided that it was time to perform a tactical withdrawal. He rose from his seat in the gunner's position and said to Miho,

"Um, maybe I should go and put my spitfire in its hanger"

"Yea, ok" said Miho, she climbed out of the turret and Nicholas followed, careful not to look up Miho's skirt. When he climbed out of the tank and he went over to his Spitfire. He climbed up and pulled out his bailout kit. It contained: 2 days worth of water, A 24 hour ration pack, a flare gun, A Colt .45 with 3 magazines and a small med kit. He removed the colt and one magazine and slid the magazine in, racked the slide, reset the safety and put it in his backpack, he swung his backpack with it onto his back and reached into his cockpit and removed the spitfire's parking brake.

"Hey! Anyone mind giving me a hand with getting the Spitfire into its hanger?" He asked,

"Sure" said Miho. She ran up to the Spitfire and pushed against one of the wings. Between the 2 of them they got the Spitfire into its hanger quickly. While they did this, they were watched by the rest of anglerfish team.

"They seem cute together" said Hana, a warm smile,

"I don't trust him" said Yukari; she had a harsh scowl, tracking his movements like a hawk.

"Why?" asked Hana, "he seems nice."

"Too nice, did you see the way he went into the panzer with her, I don't trust him." Said Yukari,

"Did you see how she was blushing when she got out of the tank with him?" said Saori,

"I think you're over reacting" said Hana, "I think she has met someone who will make her happy, and if anyone deserves to be happy, it's Miho."

"I agree" said Saori, "He's a good man, he'll take care of her"

"How do you know?!" Shouted Yukari, "How do you know anything about him?!"

"Yukari! Calm down!" said Hana,

"Well I don't trust him, it takes a certain kind of person to carry a colt .45 and he's hiding something, and I'm going to find out what he's hiding!" said Yukari, she stormed off the airfield. Saori and Hana were about to give chase when Mako said in her usual emotionless voice,

"Let her go, she just needs to cool off.", Saori looked at each other and nodded.

"What was that all about?" asked Miho, she and Nicolas walked up to the group, curiosity laced across their faces.

"She doesn't trust you, she's just protective of Mipori" Said Hana to Nicholas,

Nicholas sighed "Well, if she wants a character reference, I'll give her my sister's number"

"How many sisters do you have?" asked Miho,

"2, one elder one younger" said Nicholas, "I believe you've met at least one of them"

"Really? Who is she?" asked Hana,

"They both do tankery at St. Gloriana Girls Academy and my elder sister usually commands a Churchill Mk VII"

"Your Sister is Darjeeling!" cried Miho, "I never knew she had a brother, or sister for that matter!"

"Yup, my younger sister is Hannah White, more commonly known as Orange Pekoe" said Nicholas.

"She doesn't trust you because you carry a gun" said Mako,

"I have a good reason for that" Said Nicholas, He swung his backpack down and opened it, he reached in and removed the colt .45, " I keep it in my bail out kit as a survival tool, but I also carry a gun with me most of the time. Both my mother and father are wealthy business people, that makes me and my sisters a prime targets for abductions."

"Don't you think your over reacting?" said Saori,

"No" Said Nicholas, "People have tried to abduct Darjeeling and I at least once and actually did abduct her once. They would have got her the second time, but my grandfather put a round through their heads. He was the one who got me into flying, story goes, one day when I was about 2, I was a bit rowdy, wouldn't stop crying for attention, mum was still expecting Hannah, and Darjeeling was at nursery and dad was out of the country. So Grandpa took some pressure off mum and took me flying in his old Mosquito fighter. Apparently I was infatuated, didn't get airsick just mesmerised by it. Next thing I know, I'm leaving middle school with a pilot's licence for historic aircraft."

"You're not originally from Japan are you?" said Miho,

"Nope, the ginger hair gave it away didn't it?" said Nicholas with a smile, he put the Colt back into the bag and continued. "No, my father was from Britain, my mother was half Japanese, half British. She grew up in Japan though, they met on a Business trip and one thing led to another, next think you know, mums pregnant with Darjeeling and Mum and dad are married. Grandpa was a RAF pilot in the 2nd world war. Guess that's why flying's in my blood. Anyway, I'm starving, know any good restaurants around here?"

Hana giggled and said "Where do you want to eat?"

"Somewhere there's food" said Nicholas bluntly. The all smiled, them smirked then burst out laughing.

"I think I know just the place" said Miho

Ōarai tank cafe 10:30am

"So, it's a cafe that serves tank themed cakes?" said Nicholas, astounded.

"Yup, why is that surprising?" asked Hana

"No, just, hadn't been in one before" said Nicholas, he was staring at the tank on the table, trying to figure out what it was. Miho spotted this and smiled, she reached out and pressed the turret down, the tank gave of a main cannon blast sound and a waitress swiftly appeared.

"What can I get you?" she asked her notepad ready.

"We'd like a mix of cakes please, 1 lemon, 2 chocolate and 1 New York cheese cake slices please" said Hana

"And a diet coke please" added Nicholas. The waitress noted down and saluted, she said,

"Right away, please wait" She turned and left to hand in the order. Nicholas scanned the cafe; it was filled with tank posters and pictures of famous tankers.

"They put that one up after the finals last year." Said Hana. She pointed over to a picture on the wall. Nicholas turned and looked at the photo. On it was a picture of Anglerfish team on their panzer IV, the victory standard floating in the breeze on top of the tank.

"Back on my old carrier ship, we had a pub the old Air cadets and I went to after practice, when we won the Kreigsflieger championships 2 years ago, they hung a picture of the squadron with our flag fighter on the wall, and we got the highest honour on the city carrier. A free pint of coke each at the local pub." Said Nicholas.

"You were a Kreigsflieger pilot?" said Miho, "Guess that explains the Spitfire."

"Yup, flown for years" Said Nicholas, "I was given my Spit when I left my last school, a present from my squadron. It's a beautiful plane, treat her right, she'll keep you safe, treat her wrong, she'll kill you before you know what happened. Just like Elizabeth."

"Elizabeth?" said Saori, a confused look on her face.

"Darjeeling" said Nicholas. As Saori let out a sigh of realisation, a small flatbed lorry pulled onto the table, on the trailer were 3 cakes shaped like tanks and a glass of coke. "That is cool"

"Tastes good too" said Mako in her emotionless voice. As she finished Yukari came into the shop with a angry look, she stormed over to the table.

"There you are!" said Yukari "I was worried."

"We were worried about you too" said Nicholas,

"Shut Up!" she shouted,

"Whoa, Yukari, calm down!" said Saori, "Why are you so hostile towards Nicholas?"

"Because I was right, he was hiding something." Said Yukari, Staring eyes ablaze with anger. Staring down Nicholas. It was a credit to him that he didn't even flinch.

"Everyone hides things Yukari; it's kind of rude to through his private life." Said Miho,

"But he was hiding something huge" said Yukari, she tuned and stared at Nicholas, "Like a trial, for the death of 2 men". Everyone's eyes went wide, the entire cafe went silent, staring at the teenager. He smiled and took a swig of his coke.

"I'm surprised" said Nicholas, "My dad covered that up pretty well, but judging how you reacted, you don't know the whole story. I had a reason for shooting those men."

"WHAT! THAT'S OUTRAGOUS! WHAT POSSIBLE REASON COULD YOU HAVE FOR KILLING 2 INNOCENT MEN?!" Screamed Saori,

"Those men were not innocent" Said Nicholas in a deep, dark, cold voice, a voice with no mercy. "They were trying to abduct my Sister." When Nicolas had finished, Miho was worried, Yukari had touched a nerve and Miho wasn't sure if she liked it. Nicholas continued. "Darjeeling was in the front garden, home for the holidays. They hit her over the head with a baseball bat, knocking her out. They were in the process of trying to put her in a Black van when I came outside. I fired at them with my Cadet Service weapon, I hit one in the head, he died instantly, I hit the second in the neck, grazing his spine, he was dying, and nothing could stop that. My grandfather, who had heard the gunshot came out, seeing that the man was dying, he put him out of his misery. We later found out that the men were part of a child kidnapping ring, selling underage girls into the sex trade. So think about that, before you condemn me." Everyone in the cafe went silent. Shocked at the outburst.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know" said Yukari, suddenly regretting her decision. Nicholas took a deep breath and said,

"Well now you know. Now, who knows the way to Jasmine Dragon Street?" Asked Nicholas. They all put their hands up. Nicholas smiled and knocked down the rest of his coke. "Great, then you can show me the way." The girls looked at each other confused.

"It's all residential, why you would want to go there?" asked Hana,

"Because," said Nicholas, "That's where my house is."


	2. Chapter 2

New horizons, new friends

Chapter 2: New Year, New rules, New targets.

Nicholas woke in his bed, not recognising where he was immediately was. "Shit, please tell me I didn't get drunk and sleep with one of the girls!" He bolted upright and scanned the room. He realised he was in his new house at Ōarai, and slightly more importantly, he was alone. He breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at the clock, 6:30am.

"Good" he thought, "I have plenty of time." He got out of bed and headed for the shower room. He quickly showered and was in the process of getting dressed into his school uniform when he heard a sizzling noise coming from the kitchen. He froze,

"I'm living alone, so why can I hear sizzling?" He thought. He quickly and quietly went into his bedroom and reached under his pillow, he removed his Colt .45 from under his pillow, chambered a round and removed the safety. He made his way through the single story house; he pressed his back against the wall separating the open plan kitchen and living space. He could still hear the sound of sizzling, and he could smell... bacon? Nicholas put aside curiosity and ready to face the intruder. He turned the corner, his weapon raised. He trained his weapon on the intruder.  
"Freeze!" he said, his colt trained on the intruder. The intruder turned and Nicholas immediately lowered the colt.

"Jesus Elizabeth! I nearly shot you!" He Said. Elizabeth smiled and turned with a plate of sausages, eggs and bacon. She put it on the table. Nicholas came and sat down at the table by the plate of food.

"That's nice considering I made you breakfast." Said Elizabeth as she sat down at the table opposite with a cup of tea. Nicholas got up and got a knife and fork out of the drawer where they were kept. He returned the table and began to eat.

"Not that I'm ungrateful" said Nicholas, "But how did you get in and shouldn't you be in school?" Elizabeth smiled,

"You forget bother" Said Elizabeth, "I am on a gap year, in which I have got a job at St. Gloriana Girls Academy as a tankery instructor, and as I got accelerated a year, I can still compete this year for the last time. As for how I got in and what I'm doing here, your backdoor was unlocked and I thought you would like to have breakfast made for you for your first day at new school. And remember, I start work tomorrow." She looked at her watch, "When do you have to be at school?"

"8:00 for 8:30 am kick off, the girls are giving me a lift into school" said Nicholas as he finished devouring the breakfast. He looked up and saw Elizabeth confused,

"They're all 16, what will they be driving to school?" she asked,

"I don't know for sure, but I've got a pretty good idea." Said Nicholas, "Now what is it you really came here for?"

"What do you mean?" asked Elizabeth in a surprised voice. She was always a very bad liar.

"Come on, you didn't travel all the way from St. Gloriana to make me breakfast and wish me luck on my first day of school, what's happened?" said Nicholas. Elizabeth took a deep sigh and said,

"Ok, you got me, it's my boyfriend. "said Elizabeth.

"The one who works at the bowling alley? What's his name, Brian?" asked Nicholas,

"Yes, well, he lost his job and has let himself go he's more violent, he hangs around the house, drinking. I'm scared to leave Orange alone with him, especially after what happened." She said sadly,

"What happened?" asked Nicholas, more serious than 5 minutes earlier.

"He came to the house drunk and started lounging around, Hannah was getting me some Tea and she accidently spilt some on his lap, he... he smacked her across the face. It took me over a hour to get him to calm down. He then insisted on sleeping in my bed with me." Said Elizabeth sadly. "And before you ask no he hasn't done that, he was too drunk. And at about midnight I went to sleep in Hannah's room. I just want him to stop and I'm too afraid to confront him.". Elizabeth started to cry. Nicholas got up from her place and walked round to Elizabeth, he embraced her in a warm hug and said as she cried into his chest,

"It's Alright, I'll fly over to St. Gloriana on Saturday and deal with him, until then ask if you and Hannah can stay at Assam's house, explain the situation to her parents and tell her I'm handling it and will be around Saturday morning. Try to avoid him and I'll sort it. You still carry your M&P R8 don't you right?" Elizabeth reached down to her ankle and removed the concealed revolver.

"Good" said Nicholas on seeing the revolver, "Keep it with you and loaded with simunition and shoot for the center mass, or the privates, they both hurt badly." Elizabeth stopped crying and nodded, a smile creeping onto her face.

"Thanks Nicholas." She said. As she finished the ground began to shake and the house began to shudder.

"Ah, sounds like my lift is here." Said Nicholas.

"What?" asked Elizabeth. As she finished, Miho's panzer IV came to a halt outside the house and the shacking stopped. Nicholas picked up his bag and headed outside, Elizabeth following close behind. When the 2 exited the house, all of anglerfish team were visible from their respective hatches. AS the 2 exited, Miho shouted out from her commanders Cupola waving,

"Morning Nicholas! Oh, Good morning Darjeeling."

"Good morning Nishizumi- Chan, so that's what you drive to school each day" said Elizabeth,

"Yeah, Mako has low blood pressure so we help her get up in the morning, and Nicholas' house is on the way so we offered him a lift." Said Saori from her position on the hull. "Hop on"

"Just a sec" said Nicholas, he turned to Elizabeth and embraced her in a brotherly hug, "Remember what I said, I'll be there on Saturday come hell or high water, call if you need anything at all."

"Thanks Nicholas." Said Elizabeth with a smile, "Now go have a nice day at school. I'll send Hannah your regards"

"Please do." Said Nicholas as he broke the hug and climbed up onto the tank. He took a seat on the top of the turret next to Miho. Miho pressed her throat mic and said

"_Mako, head on when you're ready." _

"_Yes Miho" _She said over the radio, the Panzer IV suddenly lurched forward, quickly gaining speed as it sped down the road towards the school.

**Ōarai high school 8:55am**

"Ah, here it is." Said Nicholas, after about 30 minutes of searching, he had found the homeroom for his class, Standard education class 3-A. He entered the room and scanned the occupying students. The classes had basically stayed the same from last year with a few students moving up and down a class based on grades. He was happy to find Miho, Saori and Hana in his class along with one of the other male students. He was called Kentaro Nara and had transferred from the Yagami carrier ship. He seemed decent enough, a little shy around girls (That's going to go down well in a girl's school.) but a good kid nonetheless. Nicholas found his seat and was thankful it was next to Miho, Hana and Saori but also next to the only male student Nara so he would have someone to talk about Guy things too. Soon the Homeroom teacher arrived; as it was the first day it was a more of a 'get to know each other' kind of morning. The teacher looked disapprovingly at Nara and Nicholas. Nara tried to duck down but Nicholas just sat up straight.

"I've faced scarier stuff than a homeroom teacher, stand fast!" he thought. She shot a piercing glare at Nicholas. He didn't even flinch. This clearly annoyed her and she shouted in a loud angry voice,

"WHITE! KENTARO! FRONT AND CENTER!" Nicholas shot up and started walking forward only to realise that Nara wasn't following, but rather was frozen in his seat. Nicholas quietly whispered to him,

"Don't worry, I've got your back." Nara, reassured by Nicholas rose slowly to his feat and followed Nicholas to the front. As they advanced, Nicholas picked up on some of the whispers from the rest of the class.

"She's going to tear them to shreds!" one said.

"Did you see how Nicholas didn't even flinch? He's got guts!" said another.

"We'll soon find out." Said someone finally. Nicholas kept marching, halting just short of the teacher. She sized them up, scanning them with her piercing Eyes. Nara, shook worryingly where as Nicholas stood his ground, standing rigidly to attention.

"I am Sagano Sempai , your homeroom teacher for the year. I didn't want boys in this school and most certainly want any in my class so you will behave and follow the rules. Speaking of which, White, what is that around your neck?" she said, pointing to the glinting metal necklace around his neck.

"My dog tags Sagano Sempai." Said Nicholas simply.

"Take them off, boys aren't allowed to wear jewellery." Said Sagano Sempai in a harsh voice.

"I can't for 2 reasons Sagano Sempai." Said Nicholas, standing his ground against his teacher. "Firstly, by international law, all Kreigsflieger pilots have to wear dog tags at all times."

"Why is that?" asked Sagano Sempai in a angry and disapproving tone.

"So that if we burn to death inside our aircraft they can identify the bodies Sagano sempai" said Nicholas in a straight, emotionless voice. "There is another reason I cannot take them off Sempai."

"What is that?" asked Sagano sempai, a little taken aback by the previous reason.

"There is only one way to get the Dog tags off a Kreigsflieger pilot." Said Nicholas

"And that is?" asked Sagano Sempai , her voice rising again as if she was challenged, and needed to reassert her dominance.

"To pry them off their cold dead body." Said Nicholas. That was the kill shot. The entire class, including Sagano Sempai, went dead silent, all staring at Nicholas. "I ment no disrespect Sagano Sempai, there are few things I truly feel strongly about, Wearing my tags is one."

"Why is that?" asked Hana, Curiosity getting the better of her.

Nicholas took a heavy sigh, then began the story,

"It was a few years ago, my flight had been called up on a interception mission as part of the tournament, shoot down all enemy fighters and advance the next round. My spitfire wouldn't start, clogged fuel line or something, anyway I couldn't go so I stayed back, in the control tower, listening for the reports. One came in that my mate John's Mustang was heavily damaged and was returning and to prepare for a crash landing. The thing was we didn't know who was flying the plane, john may have been flying it or it may have been someone else. We saw him coming in, engine smoking heavily, we told him the crash trucks were ready and wished him luck." He paused, taking a deep breath. "As soon as his plane landed, his landing gear collapsed and he skidded down the runway and his engine caught fire. There must have been a fuel leak in the cockpit as I saw flames in the cockpit. He had a claustrophobia attack and started hammering at the canopy, he couldn't get it open. I grabbed a fire extinguisher and started towards the plane. My friend Erika grabbed me and stopped me, 'Don't, it's going to blow!' she said. And it did. The fuel and ammo left in the wings went up and turned the whole thing into an inferno. It took an hour and a half to put it out. By then the pilot was gone, we also found that he wasn't wearing his tags; we couldn't tell if it was John or someone else. It took a month to Id the body, it was John, and dental records proved it. But in that month his mother, sister and girlfriend were all wondering if he was dead or alive. It was at that moment I decided I would always have my tags, so my family didn't have to wait for closure."

When he finished, everyone was silent, some on the verge of tears, including Nicolas. Before anyone else could poke any questions the bell for 2nd period sounded. Nicholas turned around and headed for his desk, scooping up his bag and heading for the door.

"Nicholas, stay behind after everyone has left please." Said Sagano Sempai. Nicholas froze. Waiting for everyone to leave. As Miho, Hana and Saori left he saw the worried looks on their faces. When the last student left, he closed the door. For a moment, silence reigned between the two, the clam before the storm. Nicholas braced himself for the scolding that would surely come.

"I'm sorry." Nicholas snapped his head up. Those were 2 words he really didn't expect to here. Nicholas turned around and stared at the teacher, surprise laced across his face. She was also on the verge of tears.

"I shouldn't have pressed you over something that was so insignificant." Said Sagano sempai in a sad, apologetic voice.

"It's ok" said Nicholas "Your students fear you, why?"

"They are afraid of when I get angry, I'll put them in detention or worse." Said Sagano Sempai "When I stared at you both, the other boy flinched, you didn't, I thought you were deliberately resisting so I tried making an example of you to the class. Whereas Kentaro looked as if he was about to piss himself, you didn't even flinch. You really aren't afraid are you?"

"When you're in a dogfight" Explained Nicholas, "you learn that you don't have time to be afraid, its often act, or you or someone else could get hurt or worse. The ammo maybe simulated, but the fuel is still explosive, one stray spark, a busted wire... boom. You're dead. There are only a few things I fear, people trying to intimidate me is not one of them. Now I need to get to class..."

"Of course, of course, get going." Said Sagano Sempai. Nicholas nodded and headed out to his next class.

**Ōarai high school 12:45 am **

Nicholas collapsed into the chair in his homeroom. His last class had just finished and it was now lunch break. He stretched out and looked around; he saw that Nara was sitting at his desk starting his homework.

"Hey Nara" said Nicholas, "Want to get some lunch?" He looked up from his work and thought for a moment.

"Sure." Said Nara, he put his books in his bag and picked up his bag. Nicholas picked up his bag and walked out with Nara. The 2 put their bags in their lockers and headed for the cafeteria. They joined the queue and got their food. Nicholas scanned the room for a table and spotted a free table in the corner. The two sat down and began to eat.

"What you get?" asked Nicholas half way through a mouthful of mash potato.

"Bento hot box" said Nara, "You?".

"Meat and potato pie with a mash potato topping." Said Nicholas, "It's not half bad."

"Thank you" said Nara as he took a bite of sushi.

"For?" queried Nicholas.

"Standing up for me against Sagano Sempai" Said Nara. "I'm not the most confident of people and it was good of you to give me some encouragement."

"Don't sweat it." Said Nicholas. He was about to eat some more pie when someone called,

"Hey Nicholas!" Nicholas and Nara both looked up and turned towards the source of the voice. The 5 girls of Anglerfish team. The girls walked towards the tale. Nara looked down, suddenly finding his plate of food fascinating.

"What's up Nara? Their just friends of mine." Said Nicholas in a concerned tone.

"I don't have the best history with girls." Said Nara in an embarrassed voice. Nicholas chuckled,

"Dude" he said, "The best way to get to know girls is to spend time with them"

"You really don't get it, I am _**really**_ uncomfortable with girls." Said Nara in a desperate voice.

"Well now's your chance to get some practice." Said Nicholas. As he finished the Girls arrived at the table.

"Mind if we sit with you two?" asked Saori in her usual happy voice.

"Not at all by all means join us." Said Nicholas, budging up the bench to make room for the girls. The girls all sat down when the Intercom sounded and monitors flared into life.

"_Nishizumi Miho and Nicholas white from standard education class 3-A, repeat Nishizumi Miho and Nicholas white from standard education class 3-A, report to the student council immediately. Over." _

"But we just got our food" moaned Miho.

"We better get going." Said Nicholas, taking one last bite of his pie and got up from his seat. Miho reluctantly followed suit. The two walked towards the student council offices. Leaving Nara with the rest of the girls.

"Good luck Nara" Nicholas whispered under his breath.

**Ōarai high school, presidents office, 12:55 am**

Anzu kicked back in her chair behind her desk. She had just finished a great lunch in the comfort of her own office. Well, being student council president had its perks. There was a knock at the door of her office.

"Enter." She said. The door opened and Nicholas and Miho walked in, both looking slightly annoyed.

"What is Anzu? We both just got our lunch and sat down..." said Miho.

"Trust me this you will want to see." Said Anzu. She picked up a small group of papers stapled together and passed it to Miho. She looked over it.

"Its the new rules for the Nationals. It's mainly the same, except for 3 major changes. Firstly they've changed the latest year a tank can be fielded from 1945 to 1955 but you can only field 3 tanks from after 1945." Said Anzu.

"That's clever." Said Nicholas, "It means that a school like Saunders can't field, for example, 10 M48A1 Pattons and making life near impossible for a school like Anzio or us. But I fail to see how this involves me."

"Exactly. " said Anzu, "The other new major rule says that each team can include 1 aircraft for the purposes of aerial reconnaissance, ground attack and engaging the opposing teams aircraft.". Both Miho and Nicholas were surprised. This would mean that a whole new dimension to Sensha-dō.

"What are the specific rules regarding Aircraft?" asked Miho her curiosity peaked.

"That both men and women can fly the aircraft." Said Anzu, "My guess is that they want to get Kreigsflieger pilots into it. The aircraft can't have been originally designed for ground attack and must have been designed between 1930 to 1945."

"That means my Spit is square within the rules." Said Nicholas "What is the final major rule change?"

"Each team is allowed to field one team entirely comprised of male students, or allowed to have a total of 5 male students taking positions on otherwise Female tank crews" said Anzu.

"Sounds to me there trying to make it less of a gender specific sport." Said Nicholas. "I'll ask some of the other boys if there up for tankery."

"Sounds good" said Anzu, "I guess the next question is do you want to fly for us?"

"Sure" said Nicholas, "Otherwise I wouldn't be able to fly, and I get grouchy when I don't fly."

"Great, just pick panzer on your trial week form and move your Plane to the Tankery sheds." Said, Anzu. "Miho take the new rules and learn them up. Assuming you take tankery, you've got the command position again." Miho nodded with a happy smile on her face.

"Great, see you all tomorrow. Dismissed." Said Anzu. Miho and Nicholas turned and left with the copy of the new rules. Nicholas looked down at his watch and said,

"So much for lunch." Miho looked depressed,

"I know and I was so hungry." She moaned. The pair were walking along the corridors heading for the home room. As they approached their home room, they passed Nicholas' locker, he motioned for Miho to stop and he opened the locker, he removed 2 cans of fizzy drink and a pair of chocolate bars. He gave one of each to Miho and said,

"Cheers." He popped the lid on his can and turned, he saw Miho was a little astounded. She smiled and popped the seal on her can and said,

"Cheers." The 2 friends drank their drinks quickly, in a rush to get back to class.

"Hey Nicholas" she said, " All the old Sensha-dō teams are returning and retaking their original positions and machines, so were having a commanders meeting tonight to plan the year ahead. I want you to come as you're the team's air support."

"Sure" said Nicholas, "Where is it?"

"Prez's office." Said Miho, "If you can ask the boys if they want in, that would be great."

"Sure, now we better get to class." Said Nicholas. Miho nodded, the two entered the homeroom. Meanwhile, Saori watched from around the corner, she smirked, a plot formulating in her mind.


	3. Chapter 3

New friends, new horizons

**Chapter 3: The boys, the search, the breakup**

Miho sat in one of the comfortable chairs in the student council's office. With her were the Student council and the commanders of Hippo, Duck, Mallard, Anteater and Leopon teams. They were all here to discuss the year ahead. They were waiting for their last member of the meeting, however only the student council and Miho knew who they were waiting for.

"Why are we waiting around? We should start the meeting." Said Erwin,

"Were still waiting for one more member" said Miho, "But I think we can start. Firstly are interest, have any of you had people coming to you asking about tankery?" They all nodded, "So do you think we'll have enough for a new team?"

"Easily" said Sodoko, "We at the public morals committee have had neumerous questions about Sensha-dō and how to join."

"Also" said Nakajima, "Those crews who are also separate clubs and under crewed may be able to fill up their crews with new members to their club." As she finished there was a knock at the door.

"Enter!" called Anzu. Everyone looked up to see who was at the door. They all bar The student council and Miho were surprised to see Nicholas enter.

"Sorry, I'm late." He said, "I couldn't get away from Mr. Tani, he wanted my autograph, turns out he is a big Kreigsflieger fan." The rest of the girls all stared at him as if he were an alien. "What?"

"I haven't explained the new rules yet." Said Miho. All the commanders turned their confused faces towards Miho. She explained, "The new rules of Sensha-dō state that each team is now allowed to field 1 aircraft for the purposes of reconnaissance, ground attack and engaging the other team's aircraft. And Nicholas, being a former Kreigsflieger champion, and the only one in the school who can fly a spitfire, has volunteered to be our pilot." Most of the girls lost their surprised faces and replaced them with faces of sudden understanding. Sodoko, however, looked very unimpressed.

"I thought that Sensha-dō was a girls ONLY sport." She said in a disapproving voice.  
"Not for much longer" said Nicholas as he took a seat on the sofa, setting his bag down by his feat. each team is allowed to field either, team composed fully of male students or allow up to 5 male students to fill existing vacancies in otherwise female crews."

"No way!" said Noriko, surprised. Nicholas smirked and opened his bag, he removed a copy of the rules he had photocopied from Miho's and slid it over the table to the various team commanders.

"See for yourself." He said. The commanders all huddled around the pile of paper and studied them carefully. While they were scrutinizing it, Yuzu spoke up,

"Have you had a chance to ask any of the other boys if they would be interested in joining Sensha-dō?" she asked.

"Well, the presentation you gave this afternoon helped." He said, "I've spoken to 4 of the lads, 3 say they'd do it but 1 backed out not because he wasn't interested, but because he's claustrophobic. I've still got to talk to Nara."

"The boy you were with at lunch?" queried Miho,

"Yup." Said Nicholas. The girls seemed to be content with the new rules regarding the use of male students in their team, although not all of them were happy with it, especially Sodoko.

"What are the exact rules for the use of aircraft?" asked Anzu,

"Basically," said Nicholas, "I can't fire on the flag tank. I'm not allowed to fire on an aircraft that counts as being knocked out."

"How does an aircraft show its been knocked out?" asked Momo,

"Same as in Kreigsflieger, either the pilot bails out or the aircraft deploys a green smoke trail. It's either automatically deployed or the pilot can deploy it if he feels that he or she feels like the aircraft is too damaged to continue. However I'll take the unwritten rules regarding damaged aircraft in Kreigsflieger and use them, basically if the other guy's on fire, don't shoot till he's put it out or till the pilot bails out." Explained Nicholas."

"Have you got any ideas what aircraft we may be up against and how we might be able to defend against them?" asked Momo,

"I've had a couple of ideas what we may be against. But, there's not much we can do against some the airborne ordinance." Said Nicholas.

"What do you mean?!" cried Nakajima, "Your spitfire is armed with 20mm cannons and .303 machine guns, you couldn't scratch Leopon if you tried!"

"1. I'm not firing at your front armour; I'm firing at your top which is next to nothing. 2. They are both firing hundreds of rounds a minute. One well placed round can put your engine out, no engine means no movement, no movement means dead tank.3. RAF Typhoons armed with rockets destroyed more Tiger tanks during world war 2 than any other weapon system, feel safe now?" countered Nicholas. "But that is a good point, my Spit, while it wasn't designed for ground attack, it was never modified for it like a lot of aircraft. So its air to ground capabilities are limited."

"Is there anything you could do?" asked Miho,

"I could replace the center line external drop tank with a 500 pound bomb. And with some assistance I might be able to modify it to carry rockets but that's about all we can do short of getting a new aircraft." Said Nicholas sadly.

"So you mean we might face aircraft that have better air to ground abilities than your Spitfire?" asked Miho.

"Probably" said Nicholas, "Saunders have a lot to choose from, P-47 Thunderbolts, P-38 lightning's, F-4U Corsairs, the list goes on. Pravda will be a bit more limited but still have a long list as does Kuromorimine. That said I've got a pretty good idea what they've got in store."

"What do you mean? How can you know that?" demanded Sodoko. Nicholas opened his bag and pulled out a photo. It was a group shot of a group of teenagers and adults standing in front of a spitfire. He slid it over the table and said,

"This was the squadron photo before John's accident. I assume you've all heard about that by now?" they all nodded. He continued "Well, after his accident many left the squadron, we went from 32 to 12 in a week. One of the members that left was a friend of mine called Erika, she went on to study Sensha-dō at Kuromorimine Girls High School. Eventually rising to the rank of vice commander." He smiled at the shock on their faces when they realised who he was talking about.

"Well" said Miho, "I guess that explains why she can fly a helicopter. What can we do to defend our tanks against aircraft?"

"Maybe add some Cupola mounted machine guns to use as antiaircraft guns, but other than that, not much." Said Nicholas.

Miho smiled and said, "Well you better get them before they get us."

"Yes Commander" Said Nicholas returning the smile. The two smiled at each other for a few seconds. The other commanders didn't let this go unnoticed. The silence was broken by Momo clearing her thought. Snapping Miho and Nicholas from their trance. Miho blushed heavily and returned to the subject of the meeting.

"R...right, moving of aircraft and back to crews." Said Miho, "We have the potential for at least 3 new tank crews. But we have no spare tanks."

"So we'll have to search." Said Anzu

. "But we've searched nearly the entire ship." Said Yuzu,

"Come on," said Nicholas, "This ship is nearly 8km long, half a Km high and about a Km wide! There is no way you've searched the whole ship!"

"He's right" said Erwin, "We've searched all the nearby areas, but we haven't checked the farther out areas or below decks that much. I mean we found the Tiger P below decks, who knows what else is down there."

"We can organise a search tomorrow when we see how many new comers we have." Said Anzu. "If there's nothing else we need to discuss." Nobody spoke up with anything. "Then I call this meeting adjourned, see you tomorrow." Everyone got up from their seats and headed for the door. Nicholas gathered his things and picked up his bag. He followed after the group of girls.

**Ōarai high school lunch hall, 1:00pm.**

Nara sat eating in the lunch hall at a table on his own. He had always considered himself a loner, he had a few friends at his old school, but they were a bad influence on him, one of the reasons he came to Ōarai was to get away from them. He was brought from his thoughts by someone sitting down opposite him. He looked up to see Nicholas sitting opposite him.

"You know." Said Nicholas with a small laugh, "I'm fairly sure Burgers taste better when you eat them, rather than just stare at them"

"So I've heard." Said Nara, also laughing. He took a bite from the burger and sat down.

"I need to ask you something." Said Nicholas, muffled by a chunk of his own burger.

"Shoot." Said Nara. Taking a swig of his drink.

"Want to join the Sensha-dō team?" asked Nicholas. Nara froze and chocked a bit on his drink. When he cleared his thought and said

"Excuse me? Last I checked that was a girls only sport!"

"Check again, new rules, your allowed either 1 team of all male students or up to 5 male students filling in unoccupied positions on otherwise female crews." Said Nicholas, "All the other boys in the school except Nishimura, he's claustrophobic. Anyway, we need at least 4 for a tank crew and so far there are only 3 avalible."

"Check your maths." Said Nara, "you've got: Tsubasa, Sora, Suga and yourself, I'm sure that's 4, so why do you need me?"

"Because," explained Nicholas, "The rules also now allow the use of a warplane and I'm the only one who can fly a war bird. So what do you say?" Nara thought for a minute and sighed.

"Sure, I'll give it a try." Said Nara.

"Great, meet us at the tankery sheds after lunch. Kickoff is at 2. Be there." Said Nicholas. The two continued their lunch, bantering throughout. At about half past 1, Nicholas left, he had to go get something but said he would meet Nara and the gang at the Tankery sheds.

**Ōarai Sensha-dō sheds, 2:10pm**

Miho looked around the crowd gathered at the Sensha-dō sheds. Not only were there all the crews from the previous year. But also there were 8 new girls who weren't in a club and taken a vacant place on a crew. All transfer students from 2 schools and 4 male students. All of whom were from the same schools as the girls. However, one boy was missing. Where the hell was Nicholas? According to Nara, he'd left at about 1:30 and said he'd be here. Anzu stepped towards Miho. She said,

"We can't wait any longer Miho; Nicholas will turn up soon enough." Miho sighed. She turned and walked toward the Shed. She opened the door and closed it behind her. Sitting on the Panzer IV was Anglerfish team, They were playing cards on the top of the turret. Saori looked down and glanced at Miho, she smiled and said

"Now?"

"Now." Said Miho with a nod. All the members of Anglerfish team opened their hatches and climbed in. Miho stood in the commanders Cupola and pressed her through Mic. "Alright Mako, start her up, no need to be quiet." She said with a smile. The panzer IV Roared into life. The Panzer crept forward toward the doors. As the Tank crept forward, Mako revved the engine, as it approached the doors, they began to open, curtsey of rabbit team. The Panzer rolled out of the shed and into the sunlight, to a mix of shock, awe and expectation. The Panzer came to a halt, surrounded by the various teams. All of the new students staring in awe at the size of the panzer. Miho cleared her voice and stood on top of her Cupola. She said,

"Welcome to those new to Sensha-dō and welcome back to the returning champions. I am Miho Nishizumi, commander of the Ōarai Sensha-dō team. There have been several rule changes from last year's rules, hence the 4 boys, there are ment to be 5 but the last one, and arguably biggest rule change is not here yet.

" "_Yeah, sorry about that." _came a male voice over the Panzer IV's radio. The sound of the Idling Panzer IV was drowned out by the sound of a approaching aircraft. Suddenly a Spitfire roared over the panzer shed at low level. "_I had some trouble with Air traffic control."_

"Nice of you to join us Nicholas" said Saori into her radio. Nicholas, responded

, "_Sorry I'm late, had some paper work to fill out. Apparently they were getting jumpy that a teenager was flying a fully combat loaded War bird. I'm going to land on the field, here I come." _The Spitfire turned and approached the field, the landing gear appeared from the bottom of the aircraft and slowly kissed the ground. The Spitfire slowed and taxied toward the group, stopping short of the group. The engine stopped and cockpit opened, Nicholas, clad in a leather flying jacket and goggles. Walked up to the group.

"Sorry I'm late." He said. Miho smiled and laughed.

"Its alright." She said she turned to the boggled looks of the majority of the group. She explained, "The new rules say that we can field a aircraft as part of our team, as the schools only pilot he volunteered." There was a collective sigh of realisation. "Now then." She continued, "As you may have realised, we already have only 8 panzers for the 8 teams we had last year and we don't have the funds to buy a new panzer so we'll have to look for them, we'll split into 3 teams. Rabbit, and Duck teams, you take the Girls from Yagami. Hippo and Mallard go take the boys. And finally the remaining girls will come with Anglerfish team and Anteater team. Report any findings to Turtle team and Leopon team will come out with recovery vehicles and get them. Clear? Good, Nicholas go with Rabbit and Duck. Good luck." When she finished the 3 groups assembled. The teams all rushed to their appropriate panzer and fired the Engines, soon the field was erupting with the combined thunder of 6 panzer engines, all spreading out in different directions.

**Ōarai city carrier bow, Team 1, 2:15pm**

Nicholas sat perched on the turret of the M3 Lee. The teams decided that a good place to start would probably be long term storage up in the bows of the ship. The 2 tanks advanced up the various roads towards the bow of the ship. With him were another 4 girls, all perched on various parts of the Lee. One of them, an attractive, well endowed, tall girl with short blue hair, said to him in a kind voice.

"Hey, I'm Mikoto. My friends and I just transferred here from Yagami." Nicholas smiled back and said,

"Hi, I'm Nicholas, similar set up, I just moved here from the UK." All of the girls, Mikoto included looked surprised.

"Really?" said Mikoto, "Guess life is different here from the UK."

"Huh, I'm used to it" said Nicholas "my mother was Japanese, I moved out here to do my studies and so I can be closer to my sisters. They, in one case study and in the other work at St. Gloriana. So why did you girls transfer?"

"Too many pervs at our old school. "Said One of the other Girls, she was also tall, but had dark brown eyes, bright blond hair tied into 2 pigtails and very attractive. "I'm Eri Sawachika, This is Akira and that is Tenma." The 2 girls waved at Nicholas, who waved back. "Unfortunately, one of them transferred with us." Said Eri

"What? Nara?" said Nicholas, in an astounded voice. He turned and stared at Eri. "Come off it" he said, "He's incredibly nervous around Girls, you should have seen him when I left him with anglerfish team minus Miho, he really didn't want me to leave."

"He was part of the perv group in our class, what more do you want?" said Eri in a harsh voice.

"Did you ever think that he might have been forced into joining?" responded Nicholas, "Maybe he was just trying to fit in and couldn't get out." Eri was taken aback by the response. It was only worsened when Akira said in her usual emotionless voice,

"Now that you mention it, he doesn't really have the personality of a pervert."

"Yeah!" chimed in Tenma, "Have you ever seen him try to get with a girl who didn't want to be with him?" Before Eri could answer, the M3 came to a halt, with the Type 89 coming to a stop next to it. The hatches opened and the engines stopped. Azusa Sawa, the now second year who commanded rabbit team climbed out of the commanders hatch and said,

"Long term storage is 2 decks down, we have to walk from here." Everyone nodded and climbed off the M3. Azusa turned and said

"Saki, stay with the panzer, don't let anyone take them."

"Sure" She said. She climbed back onto the engine deck of the M3 as the rest of the group descended a nearby staircase and went below decks. They made  
their way through a sealed hatch with 'long Term Storage' written on it. Inside was the cavernous hold. It was filled with Containers stacked high and arranged like City blocks. The group took a nearby elevator down to the deck floor, when they got down there, they realised the size of the hold.

"We should split into teams to cover more ground" said Mikoto, "Nicholas and us will go this way". She pointed down a 'street' of containers.

"We'll go this way" said Noriko, commander of Duck team pointing down another 'Street'.

"We'll go this way, keep your phones on and if you have a problem, just yell and we'll all come running." Said Azusa. The 3 team split off into their different directions. Nicholas, Mikoto, Eri, Akira and Tenma walked along the rows of containers for a while, when they came to a large wooden container blocking their path.

"Lets back track around." Said Nicholas, the 4 girls nodded and turned around only to see a container was being lowered in behind them by one of the ceiling mounted cranes. The container had cut off their escape, they were now trapped. The Girls began to panic.

"Were trapped!" Cried Eri,

"What are we going to do? Were stuck here!" Cried Tenma. Nicholas looked at the wooden crate it seemed smaller and older than the newer metal containers that surrounded them on all other sides.

"We go over." Said Nicholas, he turned to the girls. "Mikoto" he said "Give me a boost". Mikoto knelt by the edge of the container, her hands resting on her knees ready to receive Nicholas. Nicholas walked up and stepped onto her hands and she boosted him up. He grabbed the lip of the container and pulled himself up on top. He laid down and reached down.

"Eri, your next." He said, Eri nodded and Mikoto gave her a boost, Nicholas helped her up and she laid down next to him. Tenma, come on." She said, Tenma ran up and was boosted by Mikoto, but as she was shorter than the other 3 girls and Nicholas, she couldn't reach the lip of the crate. Eri and Nicholas reached down and pulled her up. Nicholas felt the wood under him groan.

"Oh shit." He said. The wood under him gave way under the weight of the trio. They fell into the container, landing on something hard. It took Nicholas a moment to realise there was a heavy weight on his back.

"Hey! Are you guys alright?!" called Mikoto. Nicholas tried to get up but still had a weight on his back. Tenma called out

"I'm fine, I landing on something soft." Nicholas said in a strained voice, "Yeah, that was me." Tenma looked down and saw that she was lying on top on Nicholas, she immediately bolted up right. Eri also got up rubbing her head. "What did we land on?" Mikoto and Akira appeared over the edge of the crate and Akira said in a emotionless voice,

"Well we were looking for a panzer, and that's a panzer." Nicholas got up to stare directly into the barrel of a 50mm KwK 39 L/60 gun.

"I know what this is!" said Nicholas. He moved around the tank, it still had the Ōarai high school symbol on the hull and turret. "It's one of the missing panzer, a Panzer 38(t) .n.A "

"A what?" asked Tenma confused.

"It was a prototype tank developed by the Germans in 1939. Only 12 were built, it never saw widespread production. It's really rare." "Umm guys" called Mikoto, "There's a man here who works here."

"Great, ask if he has a way out for us." Said Eri.

"I heard that." Said a male voice, "And that container has rotten wood, just kick it down, you've compromised It anyway."

"Right, Stand back" Nicholas looked up and saw Mikoto and Akira jump down and heard them back off. He then put a fist to the side of the container, he pressed against it, testing the resistance. He felt the wood flex a bit, he took a step back and kicked the wood. The side of the container collapsed under the powerful kick. Nicholas walked up to the stunned worker and said,

"My apologies, were members of the Ōarai Sensha-dō team. We were searching for tanks that we thought may have been put down here when Sensha-dō was dropped by Ōarai 21 years ago. We got trapped when a container was put behind us and we tried to go over and... Well we know how that went, but we got a panzer out of it so..."

"So I guess that you'll be taken the other containers then." Said the worker. Nicholas and the girls looked confused.

"What containers?" asked Mikoto. The worker sifted through some papers on a clipboard he was carrying.

"According to this" he said, "There were 4 other containers put down where at the same time as this one." The news hit Nicholas like a tank (Pun intended). He immediately turned to the 4 girls and said,

"Akira, Eri, Mikoto, Tenma, go find the other teams. I'll call Miho." The girls ran off in groups of 2 to find Duck and rabbit teams. Nicholas pulled out his phone and said,

"Miho? Its Nicholas, you're not going to believe what we've found."

**Ōarai city carrier, Team 3, 2:10pm**

Miho stood in the Cupola of her Panzer IV, the crew were riding with the hatches open, they usually did when they weren't in a match, otherwise it got too hot for no necessary reason. Another reason was that they had 4 girls sitting on the tank and they were blocking a lot of the sights. All of the girls were furiously looking for tanks, Miho wondered if the other teams were having any luck. She turned to the girl who was sitting on the storage box on the back of the turret. She was relatively tall, had light blue hair tied into 2 pigtails.

"Any ideas where we might find a panzer?" She asked the girl.

"Maybe a panzer shop or museum." Said The Girl, "My name is Mikaze Honjoe, That's Shizuha Doi, Ayamo Nakamura, and Karin Kikuhara." She pointed at each of the girls sitting on the Panzer IV. Miho laughed,

"Well we tried the local panzer shop when shopping for uniforms and spares, and there aren't any Panzer museums on the Ship, but that said, We might try the Ōarai tank museum, see if they can spare anything." She said. Suddenly the panzer started accelerating quickly, and was soon racing down the streets at full speed. Miho immediately ducked into the panzer and yelled.

"Mako?! What's wrong?"

"She's fallen asleep!" Called Saori from her position next to Mako.

"What's going on?" called Mikaze, sticking her head through the hatch.

"Mako has low- blood pressure" explained Hana, "She falls asleep often."

"Get her out of the driver's seat quick before we crash!" ordered Miho. Hana tried to reach Mako but it was taking time.

"Guy's!" yelled One of the other Girls.

"What is it Ayamo?" asked Mikaze,

"GARAGE!" She yelled, "JUMP!" All of the Girls on the outside of the tank jumped onto the pavement. Mikaze Dived through the Cupola and Yukari and Hana shut their hatches. Saori dropped into her hatch and all, braced for Impact. The panzer IV crashed through the garage door and game to an abrupt halt. Inside, Miho was the first to recover.

"Is everyone all right?" She asked.

"I'm good" said Yukari.

"Fine." Said Saori,

"Been better but fine." Said Mikaze,

"I'm fine." Said Mako, "Sorry guys."

"How about you Hana?" asked Miho. A horrible silence filled the turret. All Eyes turned to Hana. She emitted a low groan. Her head was resting on the corner of the sights for the main gun, a small trickle of blood flowing down her face. She slowly came to and said

"I'm fine." All the girls let out a sigh of relief. Miho started climbing out of the hatch, when she emerged she came face to face with a 75mm gun. Anteater team finally arrived, Shizuha, Ayamo and Karin all sitting on the hull. The girls and Anglerfish team jumped off the Chi-Nu and raced toward the crashed Panzer IV. Mikaze and the crew of the stricken Panzer IV climbed out of the tank. Hana lay down next to the Panzer IV while Mikaze treated the cut on her head. Mako and Saori were asses in the damage to the Panzer IV. Yukari was going through a panzer trip, crawling over the tank they had crashed into. Miho went over to Mikaze and asked her,

"How's Hana?"

"It's no more than a decent scratch. She'll be fine." Said Mikaze. Miho let out a sigh of relief and then turned to Saori and Mako. Saori was trying to calm down a near crying Mako.

"How's it looking?" asked Miho. Mako buried her head into her hands, Saori sighed heavily and said,

"Were, going to need a pick up, and hopefully, either the thing that Yukari is having a panzer trip over will run, or the Tiger P can tow it."

"It's my fault." Sobbed Mako, "I hurt Hana and I totalled the Panzer IV. It's my fault." "No its not." Said Hana in her usual kind voice. Mako looked up, here face on the verge of tears.

"Its not your fault you have low blood pressure. Besides, if we hadn't crashed, we wouldn't have found this tank." Miho left Hana and Saori to calm down and went to see Yukari, who was still mid panzer trip.

"So," asked Miho, "What have we got?"

"A jem that Nicholas' sister would want in her collection without a doubt. An A33 Excelsior!" Said Yukari. "It's a prototype British heavy tank in world war 2, built as a replacement for the Churchill but never saw production."

"Great." Said Miho, "Will it run?"

"Probably not." Said Yukari, "I'm no engineer but, I think the crankshaft is has been disconnected, its not going to run so were going to need a tow." Miho sighed and pulled out her phone to call Leopon and the student council for a report and a tow. She was about to open her contacts when her phone started ringing. The caller ID showed it was Nicholas. She pressed the answer button and raised it to her ear. Over the phone came Nicholas' familiar voice.

"_Miho? _ _Its Nicholas, you're not going to believe what we've found."_

"What have you found? A panzer?" asked Miho.

"_One better," _said Nicholas, "_Or should I say possibly 4 better."_

"What do you mean, possibly 4 better?" asked Miho in a confused voice.

"_We found a panzer 38(t) n. A old container, and a worker says that 4 other containers were dropped off at the same time by the same people. I'm having the containers sent back to the sheds." _Explained Nicholas.

"Really? Well done, we'll see you back at the sheds." Hiho hung up and turned and said to the group.

"Well, we got lucky. Nicholas found a Panzer 38(t) and potentially 4 other panzers. So, here's what we do." Said Miho. "Anteater team take back Mikaze, Shizuha, Karin, Ayamo and Hana back to the sheds and tell Leopon to break out the tool kits and get over here. We'll bring the Excelsior and the Panzer IV back when they're running again." The girls all nodded and climbed onto the Chi-Nu and it turned around and headed for home.

**Ōarai Sensha-dō sheds, 2:45pm**

Miho jumped off the turret of her panzer IV and was amazed at what she saw. Parked outside the Sheds were a Panzer 38(t) .n.A and 4 old wooden containers, 1 large, 2 medium sized and 1 small. Miho walked up towards the student council who were inspecting the largest of the containers. Anzu spotted Miho heading their way smiled and said,

"Quite a find hey?"

"No doubt, where's Nicholas and why haven't you opened them?" asked Miho.

"Nicholas and the boys are working on his Spitfire. And we didn't open them because that honour goes to the commander." Said Momo.

"Are we the last team back?" asked Miho.

"Yes, team 2 didn't find anything but judging by team 1's find that really doesn't matter." Said Yuzu. Miho nodded and walked into the shed, looking for Nicholas. She found him and the other boys and a few Ōarai crew members admiring the Spitfire. When she got close she realized why, the RAF roundels had been replaced by the logo for the Ōarai school. Seeing her looking at the new paint job.

"Now no-one will wonder where my loyalties lie." He said with a smirk. Miho nodded and turned away, she walked towards the panzer IV and climbed up. She cleared her through to attract attention. Everyone in the shed turned toward Miho, watching her expectantly.

"um" she stuttered, "Well done for finding 6 new panzer, which puts in the fortunate position of having more panzer than teams so new teams will get first pick of the new panzers and if any of the other crews want to try or change to one of the new panzers they are more than welcome to, but I have a feeling that everyone's going to stick with their panzers from last year. I'm now going to handover to Momo who is going to deal with the new panzers in the crates. Momo." Momo nodded and said to the group,

"Today's search turned a very good result. An A33 Excelsior, a panzer 38t .n.A, and 4 other mystery containers. Now without further ado, lets open the other containers.".

"Yeah!" yelled the whole group in response. The group moved to the line of 4 containers outside of the shed. The automotive club were started at the first and smallest of the containers with crowbars and bolt cutters. They levered the front of the container open and stepped inside. Nakajima turned on a flashlight and turned it on the panzer, its high profile, slopped armour and angular turret making it instantly recognisable.

"We've got an M5 Stuart!" called Nakajima. Miho and the girls crowded round the Stuart, admiring the small light tank. The automotive club started on the second and third containers, quickly tearing the fronts off the 2 medium sized containers.

"Yukari! Care to identify this for us please?!" cried Tsuchiya. Yukari and Miho made their way round to the container that Tsuchiya was standing in front of. Inside was a tank with cast armour, a small, offset turret with a short gun and the whole tank was clad in an orange camouflage scheme.

"I know what this is!" cried Yukari, "That cast hull and that camo, its French. It's a Somua S35!"

"It's an early war French tank" said Miho, " It mounts a 47mm gun and has 47mm of armour. Its not incredible, but we could do worse."

"Yeah, like what we got in here." Said Tsuchiya, "It only has a machine gun." Miho and Yukari looked at each other and then walked over to the container. Inside was a panzer with a highly angled hull, wide tracks, a fixed forward facing machine gun but no turret. Instead, it had a wooden box superstructure and a rear mounted crane that was folded away.

"I know what that is!" cried Yukari, "It's..."

" A Bergpanther" said Miho, "We had one at Kuromorimine. We used it for rescuing tanks that had been damaged in training."

"So we can't use it in matches, but would be handy for the after match recovery of vehicle. But we can't use it in game." Said Anzu. She walked up to the Bergpanther with a interested eye. Miho and Yukari were brought from their musing by the sound of the last and by far largest container being torn open.

"Miho!" called Tsuchiya, "You're going to want to see this." Miho and Yukari turned their attention away from the German recovery tank and to what had spiked the racer's curiosity. Inside the container was a very large tank with sloped frontal armour reminiscent of the heavy German tanks fielded by Kuromorimine. Its turret was large and rounded and mounted a monumentally large gun.

"Yukari" asked Miho, slightly intimidated by the size of the panzer. "What are we looking at?"

"A panzer that didn't get beyond blueprints stage." Said Yukari, "A VK 7201! More commonly as the Löwe. It was developed as a proposal for a super heavy tank by the Krupp Company but was replaced by the Maus before it could get to prototype stage. None were ever built."

"Well that's obviously not right I mean look at it." Said Nicholas, staring at the massive panzer. The trio continued to stare at the massive panzer when they were brought from their musings by someone saying.

"Commander Miho?" The trio turned and saw Mikoto and her friends standing, all looking if they wanted to ask something.

"We've decided that we would like to give the Stuart a try." Said Mikoto.

"That's great!" Said Miho, "I'm sure that once the automobile club is done getting it running they'll be more than happy to give you a run down on how it works and the positions."

"Commander Miho" said a voice. Miho turned and saw Mikaze and her friends gathered around her. "We would like to take the Panzer 38t n.A as our panzer."

"Ok" said Miho, "The Automotive club should be done by next training session so all of the panzers should be ready by then. Right guys?" she turned to the automobile club who were already trying to get the Bergpanther running to tow the others into the garage.

"Maybe bar the Löwe." Said Nakajima, that's going to take a while and maybe be unsalvageable, but we'll do our best."

"What about you boys?" asked Nicholas, "What takes your fancy?"

"The Löwe has a certain temptation" said Tsubasa with a mischievous grin, "Its big and has a huge gun, I like it."

"There is a possibility though that they won't be able to get the Löwe running so failing that can you take the Saumur?" asked Miho

"Sure" said Tsubasa, "not like we have much choice is it?"

"Maybe, maybe not" said Nicholas, "We still need to find a panzer for the other rule change."

"Where are we going to find a panzer from anywhere up to 1955 on such short notice?" asked Momo.

"Why not the Ōarai tank museum?" asked Nicholas.

"yeah, bill and Fiona are really friendly and they have a wide selection of panzers from that era." Said Yukari. Everyone looked at her with blank and surprised expressions.

"How do you know the owners?" asked Nicholas, curiosity laced on his face.

"I'm a regular at the museum" said Yukari, "How do you know them Nicholas?"

"Their my godparents." Said Nicholas. Everyone looked at him in surprise, "What? You never asked."

"Well we get into dock in Ōarai in a week so we can go there and see if they're up for anything." Said Yukari.

"Anyway its getting late." Said Miho, "Let's get the panzers away and call it a night, see you all on Sunday for training." The crews began to put away the panzers and shut them away in the shed for the night. After everyone was gone, Miho left Leopon team to do what they loved, an all nighter working on big tanks.

**Pacific Ocean. 8:30am.**

Nicholas yawned behind his oxygen mask. He had left Ōarai for St. Gloriana 2 hours prior and was beginning to get tired. He scanned the seas for any signof the massive carrier ship. No sign. His eyes danced over the instrument panel. Everything was reading normal, the only concern he had was fuel. He was beginning to run low in his main tanks and is drop tank ran out about an hour ago. He was considering jettonsing it to improve his fuel consumption. He decided that he would wait 5 more minutes then if there was still no sign of St. Gloriana he would jettison to save fuel. Nicholas dipped his spitfire's nose to give him a better view of the sea. He scanned its surface for any sign of the ship. He was about to raise the nose again when he spotted something, a glint of metal and a slight change in the ripple of the ocean. Nicholas thumbed the radio button on his control yoke and said,

"Victor 651 to St. Gloriana control over." A few moments of silence hung till a male voice came over the radio.

"Victor 651, this is St. Gloriana control reading you 5 by 5 over."

"Victor 651, request direction to your carrier ship and permission to land over." Said Nicholas. The air traffic controller responded.

"Victor 651, descend to 6000 ft heading 075 degrees for 40 miles then join circuit downwind leg for landing. Airfield's pretty quiet you have it all to yourself."

"651. Thank you." said Nicholas. He opened rolled the wings and dived onto his new heading and altitude. Gaining speed, he leaved off at 6000 feet and headed along the given bearing. He soon spotted the carrier ship. Proudly steaming through the ocean. It was about twice the size of Ōarai, but was styled differently. Instead of one big city on its surface, it had a few small towns separated by small forests and country side. Nicholas was brought from his admiration of the ship by the air traffic controller returning to the radio.

"Victor 651, visual contact achieved you are cleared to land runway 17, wind 12 knots."

"Roger control, thank you." said Nicholas.

"What is your purpose for visiting St. Gloriana sir?" asked the traffic controller.

"Visiting my sisters" said Nicholas as he lined up his Spitfire with the runway and prepared for landing.

"They wouldn't happen to be the tall blond and short red head would they?" asked the controller. Nicholas snickered

"That's them." He said.

"Their waiting by hanger 12." Said the controller. "A foreman will meet you there with some paper work."

"Roger." Said Nicholas. The runway rushed up too meet the descending spitfire. It's landing gear kissing the tarmac and rolling to a controlled taxi. Nicholas undid his oxygen mask and slid back the canopy enjoying the waft of cold air on his face. He spotted Elizabeth and Hannah waiting by hanger number 12, parked near them was their land rover, the old 4 door series 1 that they used in a day to day role and as their transport at Sensha-dō games. Nicholas brought the spitfire to a halt and powered down the engine. He undid his straps and climbed out of the warbird. He stepped out onto the wing and jumped down to the ground. As he did, Elizabeth and Hannah rushed forward. Hannah, embracing Nicholas in a tight hug.

"I've missed you Nicholas! How have been?" asked Hannah, looking up at him.

"Fine thanks Hannah. How have you been?" said Nicholas looking down at her.

"Fine thank you." she said. She released her embrace on Nicholas and stepped back. Elizabeth stepped forward and embraced Nicholas in a warm hug.

"It's good to see you brother." Said Elizabeth.

"I only wish it were under better circumstances." Said Nicholas. At that moment the Foreman arrived with a clip board of paperwork on it.

"Good day sir." he said in a polite manner, "I just have some papers for you to sign." Elizabeth released Nicholas and he pulled a pen out of his pocket and filled in the form. "Will you require your aircraft to be refuelled sir?" asked the foreman.

"Yes please." Said Nicholas, "She eats 100/130 Octane petrol, if you can fill up the drop tank, that would be great, the release is marked in the cockpit." He handed back the clipboard to the foreman.

"Certainly sir." said the Foreman. He bowed and headed away. Nicholas turned to his sisters and said. "Right, shall we go then?"

"Yes lets." Said Elizabeth, the trio turned and headed for the land rover. Nicholas took off his flying jacket and threw it in the back and climbed in. Elizabeth got in the driver's seat and Hannah jumped in the passenger seat. The Land rovers engine roared into life and the car pulled away. Moving quickly across the airfield and soon joining the main road.

"We just need to drop Hannah at school then we can go back home." Said Elizabeth, raising her voice to be heard over the engine.

"Is he there?" asked Nicholas, also raising his voice over the engine.

"Yes." Said Hannah. Nicholas nodded and said no more on the matter. He looked out over the countryside. No matter how many times he came here he never got over how beautiful it was. It reminded him of the English country side with the rolling fields and buildings made of black oak and white walled. Soon they entered one of the small towns that dotted the carrier ship. It was like a typical English country village, houses, pub, village green and more houses. Soon they turned onto a winding country lane and soon turned onto a gravel path. Beside the gravel path was a sign with "St. Gloriana Girls School. A school for refined women."

"So why did they let you 2 in then?" muttered Nicholas in a jokey manner. Elizabeth snickered and kept driving. They passed groups of Girls dressed in St. Gloriana uniforms. They soon arrived at the end of the long drive and were greeted by a large stone building, with a large gracious gravel sweep with a central fountain. The sweep was littered with St. Gloriana Students, all milling in through a large stone archway. Standing in the archway was a tall elderly looking lady dressed in a black shawl and long black dress. Elizabeth stopped the Land rover and got out, as did Hannah and Nicholas followed suit. Elizabeth walked up to the Lady and bowed,

"Headmistress lady Grey" said Elizabeth. The headmistress smiled and said in a kind voice

"Darjeeling, Orange. It's good to see you." she spotted Nicholas standing behind them "And who is this fine young man?"

"This is our brother, Nicholas." Said Hannah, "He goes to Ōarai."

"Ah, yes" said Lady Grey, "I heard that Ōarai was going co-ed. How are you finding it?"

"It's a very nice school and the students and faculty are very kind." said Nicholas.

"What do you do for sport at Ōarai?" asked Lady Grey.

"Sensha-dō" said Nicholas, "As a Kreigsflieger pilot, they came asking when the new rules were put in place and I said yes."

"Ah yes we are aware of the rule changes to Sensha-dō and have been getting ready for this coming years nationals." Said Lady Grey, "But enough, Orange get off to class, we don't want you to be late now do we?"

"No miss" said Orange she bowed and headed inside of the building.

"Now then." Said Lady grey, "Are you going to give your brother a tour of the grounds Darjeeling?"

" Maybe later Miss" said Elizabeth, "Nicholas and I have some family business to deal with but maybe later."

"Very well." Said Lady grey, "The door is always open to one of our finest students and her family. Good day." With that she turned and left. Elizabeth and Nicholas turned and got back in the land rover. They headed back down the driveway and towards Hannah and Elizabeth's house. They drove through the country villages till they came to the largest of the villages. They turned into a street of small houses, not dissimilar from those of cities on dry land. Elizabeth pulled up in the land rover outside her and Hannah's house. Parked in front of it was a large black motorbike.

"That's his bike." Said Elizabeth. Nicholas and Elizabeth got out of the land rover and walked up to the house. They got about half way up the front garden before the front door opened. A teenager in his high teens if not very early 20's came out the front door. He had a 5 day shadow and a leather jacket on. Even from a distance Nicholas could smell the alcohol lingering on his body. He rushed towards Elizabeth, taking no notice of Nicholas

"Elizabeth babe, I've been worried about you." he said as he tried to embrace Elizabeth in a hug. Nicholas punched the man in the face, knocking him from his feet. He sputtered angrily,

"Who's this? Your Brother?" Nicholas walked up to him and grabbed him by his collar and forced him against the wall.

"You won't see them again" said Nicholas threateningly, "You won't walk down their street, you won't brush past them in a queue, you won't even say their names. Clear?" "Why?" He asked in a mocking tone,

"Daddy's money going to make my life difficult?"

"No." Said Nicholas in a pissed off tone, "First I'll punch your lights out, then I'll hold you as Elizabeth and Hannah take a swing at you, then I'll call my Kreigsflieger buddies who will all want to take a swing at you, hitting their honorary sisters and all. Then I'll get around to calling dad and let his lawyers finish off whatever's left. Now get out of my sight before I call the police." Nicholas dropped the man. He was about to punch Nicholas when he spotted the Colt 1911 at his hip. He skulked off and rode his bike away. Elizabeth walked up to Nicholas and said

"Was that really necessary Nicholas?"

"No" said Nicholas with a trademark grin, "But it sure was fun. Now then, I haven't eaten since last night, any chance of some breakfast?"

"Sure" said Elizabeth with a chuckle, "come on in." The two entered the house in search of food. They walked into the hall. Offset from the hall was a living room, kitchen and dining room and the stairs. Upstairs was a work room, 2 bedrooms each occupied by one of the girls and a spare bedroom. Nicholas walked into the living room. Inside was a large sofa and a pair of large comfortable chairs. In front of them was a coffee table and in front of that a large TV on the wall. In the corner of the room was their grandmother's beaux, a present from their grandmother when she passed away. Next to that was a large stone fireplace with a mantle piece above; festooned on it were various boxes and pictures of the family and friends. Above the mantle piece was a beautifully done sketch of Elizabeth and Hannah. Nicholas sat on the large sofa and watched his surroundings. Soon Elizabeth appeared with a small plate in one hand and a cup of tea in the other.

"Here" she said, "Toasted crumpets with melted butter and a twist of black pepper."

"You even remembered my favourite weak time breakfast." Said Nicholas happily. He bit into one of the crumpets and smiled, done just the way he liked them.

"By the way," Said Nicholas, "I've got a message from Miho."

"Oh yes?" asked Elizabeth, " How is she?" "She's fine" said Nicholas, "But she sent me to ask If you would be interested in purchasing a panzer we recently acquired."

"Oh yes? What kind of panzer is it?" asked Elizabeth as she took a sip of her tea.

"An A33 Excelsior, running condition, fully competition ready." Said Nicholas. That caught Elizabeth's attention. She drank some of her tea and said,

"That is quite a find. Where did you get it?"

"We found it in a garage on the ship." Said Nicholas, "The auto mobile club who also crew the Tiger P have spent the last few days and nights getting it and the other panzers we found running."

"And what else did you find?" asked Elizabeth. Nicholas knew what she was doing, she was trying to get some information out of him for what Ōarai would be fielding this year at the nationals.

"That would be telling." Said Nicholas, "But are you interested in acquiring the Excelsior? We have no crew for it and it would compliment your Matilda's and Crusaders nicely." Elizabeth thought for a moment.

"I would need to discuss it with the team commanders but we might be interested in acquiring it." Said Elizabeth.

"Well Miho just asked me to inquire to how interested you are in getting it. You'll need to discuss with her about payment or whatever." Nicholas. He looked at his watch. "I'm due to take off at 5:00 pm its 9:30am now so I've got some time to kill" said Nicholas,"How about that tour around the school?" Elizabeth chuckled and said

"Ok, lets finish our tea and breakfast then we can head off. I have to be at St. G's for work at 4:00 so I'll drop you at the airport early and you can do some maintaince for a bit or something."

"Sounds good." Said Nicholas. The two continued to chat and debate topics for a while. The rest of the day went smoothly and Nicholas flew home early, but only after having made a few recon flights over where St. Gloriana practice, having learned some valuable information.


	4. Chapter 4

New friends, new horizons

**Chapter 4: the beauty, the beast, the 1****st**** round draw**

**Ōarai city carrier, 12 jasmine dragon street 21:32**

Nicholas sat in one of the large comfy sofas in his living room. He had just finished his post flight bath and was looking at the papers on the table in front of him. Some were the rules regarding extra weapons and their use. It looked like he was going for a 500 pound bomb and however many rockets he could strap to the outside without ruining the look of the Spit. He also had one other modification in mind to make to his spitfire. He was bought from his musings by a clap of thunder.

"Damn," he said, listening to the rain storm outside. "Hate to be out there." He turned back to his paper work when there was a knock at the door. Nicholas looked up.

" Who could that be?" he though, "I'm not expecting anyone?" Nicholas instinctively reached for the Colt at his hip only to find it wasn't there. He removed the knife from his sock and walked to the door. He looked through the spy hole and was surprised by what he saw. He put the knife back in his sock and threw open the door.

"Miho?! What are you doing here?" Standing in the doorway was Miho, sopping wet with a depressed look. "Come in, for god sake get out of the rain" said Nicholas. He ushered her inside, taking her bag and ushering her into the living room. He sat her down on one of the sofas and ran to get her a towel. He grabbed a towel from the bath/shower room and retuned, wrapping the shivering Miho in the towel. He immediately went for the coffee machine in the kitchen, hopping it was still hot and or still have some coffee left in. He was in luck, there was still a mug full left. He grabbed a mug and poured the hot beverage into the mug. He rushed back into the living room, he practically forced the mug into Miho's hand.

"Thank you" said Miho weakly. She took a swig of the hot drink and almost immediately looked warmer and better. "I'm awfully sorry for intruding." She said.

"Its no problem." Said Nicholas, "But what were you doing out in such weather in the first place?"

"The water pipes for our entire apartment block blew and flooded each level." Said Miho. "We were all told to go find a hotel for the night. I was on my way to Saori's house when the rain got worse..." Nicholas interrupted saying.

"You can stay here as long as you like." Said Nicholas. Miho looked as if she was about to protest but Nicholas cut her off. "Look, the rain is only getting worse and is forecast to only get worse till tomorrow. I have plenty of room and I could use some company. Now, the bathroom is through there" he pointed in the direction of his bedroom and the en-suite bathroom." Have a shower or a bath as you want. By the time you come out, there will be a hot meal waiting and a warm bed along with anything else you want, and no it's not optional." Miho sat stunned, she soon realized however, that there was no arguing with Nicholas. She got up and headed in the direction of the bathroom, collecting her bag as she went. After she left and he heard the door to the bathroom lock, he started cooking a hot meal. When Miho emerged a few minutes later she was greeted by beautiful smells wafting from the kitchen.

"Smells good." Said Miho, she stood in the doorway of the kitchen to see Nicholas working over a hob with a pan. Nicholas looked up at Miho with a smile.

"Its Spanish omelette." Said Nicholas, "My mother used to make it for me all the time. You can put almost anything in it, in this case, red and green peppers, chicken and peas." He moved the omelette on to a pair of waiting plates, placing it on one and dividing it in half. He picked up the plates and moved into the living room. He placed the 2 plates on the table. Miho sat down by one of the plates and Nicholas by the other. He produced a knife and fork and handed it to Miho; she took the eating implements and took a bite out of the omelette.

"It's good!" Cried Miho. Nicholas smiled and took a bite from his own.

"Glad you like it." He said. He got up and retrieved a pair of cans of lemonade from the fridge and handed one to Miho. "I spoke to Elizabeth."

"Oh yes?!" said Miho, "How is Darjeeling?"

"Fine." Said Nicholas, "I told her about the Excelsior. She said she would need to ask the team commanders but she would be in touch."

"You didn't tell them about any of our other finds did you?" asked Miho, a sense of worry present in her voice. Nicholas looked at her and smiled.

"Not a word. "He said, "Although St. Gloriana are hiding something, something big."

"What makes you say that?" asked Miho,

"When I flew home, I passed over their training grounds a few times." Said Nicholas, "If the track marks are anything to go by, they've got a lot of things bigger than Matilda's and Crusaders, more than just one Churchill."

"Well good thing we got some surprises or our own then." Said Miho.

"Where are we on the other tanks?" asked Nicholas.

"Their all running bar the Löwe" said Miho, "Although the automobile club think that getting the Löwe running will take a while."

"How long?" asked Nicholas,

"If we get that far," said Miho, "We might have it by the semi finals if we're lucky."

"There still the tank we might get at the Ōarai tank museum." Said Nicholas, "Although I'm willing to bet that my sisters will have plundered the British tank hall."

"What have they got at the tank museum?" asked Miho,

"Mixture of everything from World War 1 all the way up to the modern day." Said Nicholas. "They also have a good mixture of prototypes and tanks that saw wide scale production." Miho nodded and then said in a nervous voice.

"Nicholas" she said, "About me staying here, there's one problem."

"What is it?" asked Nicholas, thinking that he had forgotten something,

"There's only one bed." Said Miho. Nicholas looked at her and said,

"I know, you can have the bed. I've got the sofa." Miho immediately protested and said,

"No! I couldn't! You've been so kind to me, I couldn't take the only bed!"

"But you'll need some privacy." Said Nicholas, "and besides, the sofa folds out into a bed." Miho tried to argue but was put down each time by Nicholas' insistence. She eventually gave in and took the bedroom. Nicholas retrieved a few things from the bedroom and bathroom and left Miho in peace. She quickly showered and went to bed.

Miho woke to the sound of the alarm clock. She turned it off and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She looked at the time on her phone, 6:30. Time to get up for practice. She suddenly became apparent that she wasn't in her room or at Saori's. She suddenly remembered that she had slept at Nicholas' house... don't tell Saori that, she'd never let her forget it. She quickly got out of bed and went into the en-suite shower room. She soon emerged, freshly showered. She quickly dressed into her Sensha-dō uniform. Just as she buttoned up her shirt, there was a knock at the bedroom door.

"Miho? You up?" said Nicholas on the other side of the door.

"Yes." Called Miho.

"Can I come in?" asked Nicholas.

"Sure." Called Miho. The door opened and Nicholas walked in, he was in white shorts and a T-shirt with 'Royal Marine cadet' on it and trainers. He also had an iPod in a armband mount with the earphones hanging down. He was sweating lightly, it was clear that he had been running.

"I was just going to use the shower." Said Nicholas, "There's breakfast on the table."

"Thanks." Said Miho. Nicholas walked into the shower room and shut the door. Miho walked through the house into the living room, sitting on the table was a plate with 4 bacon sandwiches and 2 plates with knives and forks. Miho took 2 of the sandwiches and sat down at the table. She looked around the room. It was decorated with various pictures and had various objects on display. On the mantle piece sat a elaborately decorated Katana. Miho went up to it, admiring its black and gold scabbard.

"That was my grandfather's." Said Nicholas. Miho jumped, not having heard Nicholas enter the room. Nicholas was wearing his usual leather flying jacket, jeans and held a flying helmet in the crook of his arm. "My mother's father carried that 12 century sword with him during the second world war. When he surrendered to British forces at the end of the war for the sake of his men, the British commander let him keep is sword as a sign of respect. It's been handed down through our family for generations. It's also the sword I passed my black belt exam with."

"All my family treasures are at my home with my mother." Said Miho sadly. Seeing that had touched a nerve, Nicholas decided to change the subject.

"Shall we head off to training?" said Nicholas.

"Yeah let's go." Said Miho. "If we leave now we might be able to get to the panzer IV in time to pick up Mako and get her to training on time."

"Or we could just take my car." Said Nicholas,

"You have a car?" said Miho astounded, "What type of car is it?"

"I'll show you." said Nicholas. The 2 walked out of the front door and out to the garage. Nicholas undid the garage door; Miho was shocked at the sight that greeted her.

"Nice huh." Said Nicholas with a grin, "1969 Shelby GT 500. When we got her she was a complete wreck, dad and I spent our holidays rebuilding and fine tuning her from the ground up."

"Where did you get this?" asked Miho, taken by the American muscle car.

"It was my 14thBirthday present" said Nicholas, "It was all I asked for, dad and I spent the next 3 years worth of holidays rebuilding her. Most of it, on this." Nicholas opened the bonnet and smiled. "Behold, a custom built 7.0 Litre twin turbo charged V8, producing 625 break horse power, 0-60 in about 3.5 seconds." Miho stood, in awe of the car that sat in front of her.

"You're going to get swamped by the auto club when they see this thing." Said Miho.

"Well let's go find out" said Nicholas. He opened the passenger door for Miho. She stepped into the cream covered interior, wood polished to a shine. In the center of the dash board sat a small screen. Nicholas got into the driver seat and shut the door. He saw Miho was looking at the screen.

"Nice Huh" he said, "Dad and I gave the original interior a few modern updates, sat-nav, air conditioning, sound system and phone interface." He pulled out his iPhone 5 and slotted it into the hands free.

"You really like this car, don't you?" said Miho. Nicholas smiled and put the keys in the ignition and turned them. The V8 roared into life then slowed to a deep purr.

"Yup." Said Nicholas as he released the hand break and pulled out of the driveway onto the streets. The pre 7:30 streets of Ōarai were pretty quiet; the only thing that kept Nicholas' foot in check was the odd car and the speed cameras. That didn't however stop the carrier ship echoing to the sound of a well tuned V8 in the morning light.

**Ōarai tankery sheds 7:35am**

The morning light pierced the windows and open door of the Ōarai tankery shed. The only occupants were Hana Isuzu, Yukrai and Leopon team. Hana and Yukrai patiently waited for Miho as they did every morning to go and get Mako and Saori for morning practice. Leopon team were overworking themselves as usual. This time working on the Löwe, trying to get it running. Yukari looked down at her watch.

"Nishizumi-dono is running late." Said Yukari. Hana chuckled and said in her usual caring voice.

"She was staying at Saori's house last night, her flat flooded, I'm sure she'll be here soon."

"Well I'll call Saori just to be sure." Said Yukari. She pulled out her phone and was about to dial Saori's number when her phone went off with Saori calling her. Yukari pressed the call button on her phone and lifted it to her ear.

"Hey Saori." Said Yukari,

"_Hey Yukari, are you Hana and Miho coming yet?" _ Said Saori over the phone.

"I was calling to ask whether Nishizumi –dono was with you." said Yukari in confusion, "She stayed with you last night didn't she?"

"_No." _Said Saori, _"She never came to my place, I assumed she went to either your or Hana's house and forgot to call me."_

"Well she's not here." Said Yukari, she started to become hysterical, "She must have been kidnapped! I'll call the police and..." Yukari was interrupted by a dark blue, classic American muscle car complete with white racing stripes roaring onto the practice area. It came to a halt just by Yukari and Hana. The engine shut off and Miho and Nicholas got out. Hana took Yukari's phone ou of her stunned hand and said into it.

"Never mind Saori, Nicholas just arrived with her in a very nice car."

"_Wait What?! Did she sleep at Nicholas'..." _Saori was hung up on by Hana.

"Sorry I'm late." Said Miho, "We would have been later but it turns out that Nicholas had a car."

"Did you sleep at Nicholas' house last night?" asked Hana.

"Yes now let's go get Mako." Said Miho, clearly not wanting to talk about it.

"Wait! You did what?!" cried Yukari, she turned her fury towards Nicholas, She was about to vent her anger when Miho stepped in.

"Yukari." She said forcefully, "I will explain later, but for now we need to get Mako so get in the Panzer IV now." Yukari was clearly taken back by the forcefulness of Miho's orders as were All present.

"Yes Nishizumi –dono" said Yukari sadly. She turned and walked over to the waiting panzer IV. Miho and Hana followed. The Panzer IV roared into life and pulled out of the garage. Leaving a stunned Leopon team and Nicholas.

"I've never seen the commandant be that forceful." Said Nakajima. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"So" said Nakajima changing the subject, "Nice car, didn't sound like the standard for a GT500 though." Nicholas looked at her with a broad grin.

"Your all race enthusiasts' right?" asked Nicholas, they all nodded. Nicholas' grin got even wider, "Then you will really appreciate this." He led them over to the waiting GT500.

**Ōarai carrier ship 7:45am**

"Right were all in, let's get to practice." said Saori as she sat into her seat in the Panzer IV.

"Right." Said Miho, "Hana, lets go." Hana who was driving the panzer IV in the place of Mako who was getting dressed/ washing/ eating breakfast sat in the gunner's seat. The Panzer IV pulled out of its space outside Mako's house and into the stream of traffic.

"So, Miho." Said Saori in a mischievous voice, "How was your night with Nicholas?" Miho let out a deep sigh; she really was hoping that Saori of all people hadn't heard.

"It was very comfortable." Said Miho, "Nicholas was a complete gentleman. I turned up on his doorstep completely desperate, freezing cold and soaked; and he gave me a place to stay, a hot meal and a place to sleep without asking anything in return."

"Willing to bet he made you sleep on the floor." Said Yukari in a disapproving voice.

"No, he let me sleep in his bed." Said Miho. She suddenly realized what she had just said. The whole panzer went completely silent, everyone in shock from what Miho had just said.

"YOU DID WHAT?!" Shouted Saori in utter surprise.

"Aren't you guys a little young to be doing that sort of thing." Said Hana with a chuckle.  
"I knew he couldn't be trusted!" yelled Yukari, "When we get to practice I'm going to tear his face off!" Miho immediately regretted not thinking and shouted at the top of her voice.

"STOP THE TANK!" The Panzer IV came to a sudden stop and everyone looked at Miho expectantly.

"Right." She said angrily, "Let's get this sorted. 1. Nicholas and I DID NOT do that. 2. Nicholas gave up his bedroom so I could have some privacy and he slept on the sofa at his insistence. 3. He gave me a place to stay when I needed it most. He had every right to say no but gave me a place to stay for as long as I needed, so if any of you have problems with Nicholas get them out now!" The whole crew went silent, stunned by Miho's outburst. Yukari looked at her feet, finding the floor fascinating. Saori was being uncharacteristically quiet, Hana and Mako sat silently in their seats.

"Hana, drive on." Said Miho quietly. The panzer IV continued along the road to practice.

**Ōarai tankery sheds, 7:55am**

The panzer IV came to a halt outside the Sensha-dō shed. Miho looked out and saw that the majority of the club were crowded around Nicholas' car. Surprisingly though Nicholas was no wear to be seen. Miho was about to climb out of the Panzer when she was stopped by a sound from the hull.

"Miho." She looked down and saw Saori looking up from her hatch. "Anything that was said in this panzer, Stays in this panzer." She said. Miho nodded, feeling reassured that she wouldn't have to explain anything else about her staying with Nicholas. She climbed down from the panzer IV and walked up to Sodoko who was standing rigidly to attention with her fellow members of the school morals committee.

"We all here Sodoko?" asked Miho,

"Yes commander." Said Sodoko, "They've all been either admiring Nicholas' car or been prepping their panzers for training. Nicholas is also, with the assistance of the auto club. He apparently got them to help on the promise that they can have a ride in his car around the race track later." Miho smiled. She thanked Sodoko and went over to the Spitfire. Nicholas and the auto club were busy mounting rails under the Spitfire's wings. Nakajima called up to the Nicholas who was in the cockpit.

"Ok, try it now." Nicholas nodded and pressed something in the cockpit. There was a click of release and the rails clicked.

"It works." Said Nakajima with a smile.

"Awesome." Said Nicholas, "Let's get some rockets strapped to this thing and get her over the range." Nicholas jumped out of the cockpit. He saw Miho and said

"We got a shipment of the aircraft ammo and some machine guns for the cupolas and rockets and bombs for the spit."

"Were going to the firing range later. We could park a couple of targets for you to shoot at." Said Miho.

"The machine guns can be mounted quickly." Said Nakajima. We could do it before practice given 20 minutes."

"Get to it." Said Miho. Nakajima went to work, grabbing the rest of the auto club and grabbing went to a box that was underneath the spitfire. Miho turned and headed to the panzer IV, she climbed up onto the panzer and looked out to the group.  
"Um guys?" she said out to the group. The group continued as if they never heard her.

"Guys." Said Miho a little louder. They still didn't hear her. Nicholas yelled at the top of his voice.

"GUYS!" The whole group turned to Nicholas "Your commander is trying to tell you something." The group turned to Miho who said.

"Thank you Nicholas. Now then, were about to start practice, were going to be fitting some machine guns to the panzers then we'll e heading out to the firing and driving range, then we will finish about 2pm ish and then we dock in Ōarai and anyone who wants to come to the tank museum while we look for a new panzer. Right, ok, mount up and see you at the firing range, can someone please give the new crews a hand with whatever."

"OK!" shouted everyone. They all turned and headed to their tanks. Anglerfish team climbed into the panzer IV and began starting checks. Nicholas turned and started doing some pre-flight checks. Soon, all the panzers had their machine guns mounted on their cupolas and Nicholas had a 500 pound bomb and 8 rockets. The panzers began to pull out of the garage, fully loaded for firing at the firing range. The panzer IV started its engine and was about to roll out when Nicholas called out,

"Hey Miho!" Miho tuned and looked at Nicholas, "What's the team radio frequency?"

"Oh, channel 12" said Miho. The panzer Iv lurched forward and joined the line of panzers heading for the practice range. Nicholas switched the radio channel to channel 12 and said into the radio

" Ōarai spitfire to Ōarai panzers, radio check over." Nicholas waited a moment and Saori's voice came back on the radio.

"_Roger Ōarai spitfire, this is anglerfish team reading you 5 by 5 over," _

"Roger Anglerfish team, I'm taking off and will fly out to the range and adopt an orbit of 2000 feet and will fire on target when ordered." Said Nicholas, "Will return to base when ammunition is expended over."

"_Roger Nicholas, The last panzer has left so you're the last one out. Over and out." _Said Saori. Nicholas disconnected from the radio channel and started his spitfire's engine. He rolled out of the hanger and took off, climbing to 2000 feet and levelling off, and started orbiting the firing range.

"Fire!" The 75mm kwk L48 gun kicked back, the discarded shell was released into the turret basket, the fumes hitting the occupants like a tidal wave. The extractors working overtime from 2 hours of near continuous firing.

"Another Bulls eye Hana." Said Miho.

"That was the last of the ammo commander." Said Yukrai. Slumped in her loaders seat, exhausted.

"Reports are coming in Miho." Said Saori, " Leopon, turtle and hippo team are all also reporting direct hits. Mallard and duck are reporting hits, and rabbit, anteater, the 38tn.a, stuart and the Saumur are reporting misses." Said Saori. Miho sighed, while their gunnery skills had improved, they still had a long way to go.

"Right," said Miho, "Lets head back."

"But Miho," cried Saori, "Nicholas still has to make a attack run!" Miho gasped, she had forgotten about Nicholas, he had been circling for 2 hours now.

"Quick, contact Nicholas!" said Miho with a sense of urgency. Saori pressed the throat mike and said into it.

"Nicholas are you there?"

"_About time!"_ said Nicholas, he was annoyed. _"I've been circling for 2 hours, and I'm nearly out of fuel, probably enough to make 1 attack run, I was about to turn back. And need to go to the bathroom!"_ Saori snickered and said

"Ok Nicholas, make your attack run, target number 13, then head home."

"_Roger, going in, rockets, machine guns and cannon. Out." _Said Nicholas. Anglerfish team opened their hatches and turned their eyes toward the targets. Nicholas' spitfire screamed in low, practically mowing the grass, the target illuminated with flashes as his machine guns and cannons raked the target, then exploded as a pair of rockets struck the target. The Spitfire raised its nose and climbed away from the smoking target.

"_Ōarai spitfire egressing out heading 194, sortie complete, target destroyed, returning to base, fuel, 25 liters. Out. "_ Said Nicholas over the radio. The spitfire climbed out of sight and into the distance. Anglerfish dropped back into the panzer IV and started heading home for the sheds.

**Ōarai tank museum **

**2:35pm**

Miho jumped down off the panzer IV. Coming to a halt next to it in the tank museums car park were the school council's Hetzer, the gamers Chi-Nu, the boys Saumur and the Auto clubs Tiger P. Following behind was Nicholas' car. Nicholas pulled into a parking space and switched off the engine. He got out as the other teas disembarked from their panzers. As the crew assembled a tall man with short grey hair emerged from the museum. He spotted Nicholas and cried happily,

"Nicholas!" Nicholas turned and smiled

"Bill!" he said Happily, He shook the man's hand vigorously. "It's good to see you."

"Likewise. You brought me some more tanks for the collection?" he said, Eying the assembled panzers, especially the tiger P. Nicholas laughed, he turned to the girls.

"He's always on the lookout for rare and one of a kind panzers." Said Nicholas. He turned back to bill and said.

"These are the girls of the Ōarai Sensha-dō team. One of whom we gather is a regular. Yukrai." Yukari stepped forward from the group and said,

"It's good to see you again Mr. Cruise." Said Yukari, bowing respectfully.

"Likewise Yukari." Said Bill in a kind voice. Anzu stepped forward from the group and introduced herself.

"I am Anzu Kadotani, student council president; these are my fellow council members, Momo Kawashima and Yuzu Koyama, and this is our captain Miho Nishizumi. Were interested in acquiring some panzers to reinforce our team for this year's national tournament. Specifically anything from 1945 to 55."

"You're more than welcome to look through the museum and ask about anything you like, although I'm sure that either Nicholas or Yukari could give a guided tour." Said Bill, he led the group into the museum. They passed through the doors to the air conditioned museum; inside the large hanger that formed the museum was room after room, each packed with tanks. Yukari instantly went to a panzer high, almost immediately running up to the World War 1 tanks in the first room. The group moved through the museum, moving into the World War 2 rooms, each major tank producing nation had a room. As they moved through the British room Nicholas notice something. Between the Sherman firefly and Churchill MK 4, was an unusual empty space. Nicholas thought for a moment, trying to remember what was there and more importantly where it could have gone. Then he remembered what was missing and who had probably taken it.

"So when did my sisters take the comet Bill?" Bill winced, and then sighed,

"Busted." He said, "They came yesterday, we offered them something from the cold war collection but they said they have something already."

"Great." Said Anzu, "Now St. Gloriana, the only school that's beaten us, has got a comet." Nicholas stepped forward, moving forward into the next room, a cavernous room that was packed with cold war era tanks from all over the world. The group fanned out, admiring the collection of tanks. Miho was looking at a centurion when Momo called out,

"Hey commander! I think I've found a suitable panzer." The group moved over to where Momo was. She was standing in front of a large black tank with a cast hull, high profile and an oscillating turret.

"Ah," said Bill, "You have good taste in panzers young lady."

"You picked his favourite tank in the museum." Said Nicholas, "The AMX 50. Its a post war prototype French heavy tank that would do nicely but we can't use it."

"Nicholas is right" said Yukari, "As much as I would love to see it in our shed next to the Löwe..."

"You have a Löwe?" interrupted Bill stunned,

"We can't take this AMX 50 because it won't run." Finished Yukari.

"Well if its a problem with running" said Nakajima, "We'll get it running." Nicholas laughed,

"No you don't understand," he said, "It won't run because there's no engine, it's a shell." The whole group let out a sigh of realisation. Nicholas then had a brain wave,

"Bill" he asked, "Did my sisters take the beast?" Bill smiled, and said,

"No they didn't, it still needs some work but its mainly cosmetic, you can have a look if you want. She's out in the work shed, she's running now, take the team out to the arena and Tom and I will bring it round." Nicholas nodded and Bill turned and left. Nicholas turned to the group and said,

"Right follow me." They followed him out of the museum to a dirt and grass covered field, it had a large stand, the kind used at football games around it, and in the course were hills and dips along a well worn track. The team took seats on the stand, waiting for something.

"What is "The beast" Nicholas?" asked Saori,

"Wait and see, Saori, wait and see." Said Nicholas with a smirk. In the background a low rumble of a engine could be heard, it gradually it got louder. The team looked around trying to find the source of the engine.

"That's a British engine." Said Yukari. "Early cold war by the sound of it."

"Yup" said Nicholas. The rumble of the engine grew to a quiet thunder, and the source came through the entrance of the corner field and started around the source. Its dark green cast hull covered with scorch marks and scrapes. However, its squat turret and long gun proudly betrayed its identity.

"Ladies and gentlemen." Said Nicholas, "I give you the FV 214 Conqueror MK 1, otherwise known in this museum as, the beast." The conqueror came to a halt in front of the stand, paused for a moment, and fired a blank from the main gun. The load cannon caused most of the team to flinch, jumping back in their seats. Nicholas led the group down to the waiting British panzer. Nicholas proudly walked up to it and patted his hull, saying in his best 'Drill sergeant voice',

"Now usually the good Lord works in mysterious ways, But not Today! This here is 66 tonnes of straight up, HE spewing dee-vine intervention!" Everyone looked at Nicholas with a mix of confused and surprised look.

"Quoting Sgt Major Avery Johnson from halo 2? Really?" Came a voice form the Conqueror's driver's hatch. A man in his late teens climbed out of the conqueror's drivers hatch, he wore trainers, a blue grease covered coverall and a baseball cap. He was relatively tall, had black hair and brown eyes.

"Nice to see you too Maverick." Said Nicholas, turning to see the newcomer.

"I told you not to call me that!" said the teenager. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?" Nicholas turned back to the girls and said,

"This is Bill's son Tom Cruise, he works here as a maniac."

"You mean Mechanic." Said Tom correcting him, Nicholas then said with a smirk,

"No I was right 1st time."

"And just how am I maniac?" asked Tom,

"You put a jet engine on the M24 Chaffee, and then took it drag racing." Said Nicholas,

"Really?" asked Nakajima , "How did it go?"

"He tore the tracks off it." Said Nicholas, "And ended up in the hospital for a month. Anyway getting back to the conqueror, what do you think Miho?" Miho looked over the mammoth British tank.

"It might not look pretty," said Tom, "But under the hood it runs like clockwork, most of the time. It has some problems with the electrics and is slightly underpowered, but other than that it's good solid British engineering." Miho stared at the British tank she smiled and said,

"We'll take it." She said. Anzu stepped forward and said,

"How much do you want for it?" Bill thought for a moment then said

"Tell you what; I'll let you have it if you let me go for a quick few laps in the Tiger P around the track." Nicholas smiled while Miho and Anzu looked surprised. Anzu then smiled and said

"You've got a deal. Nakajima! Go get Leopon." Nakajima and her team raced to the Tiger P while Anzu shook Bills hand. The boys walked up to the Conqueror, admiring the machine, they all looked at Suga and nodded. Suga turned to Miho and said,

"Commander, we volunteer to crew the Conqueror. It's larger so will be easier for us all to fit in, and were having trouble with the Saumur."

"What's wrong with the Saumur?" asked Miho.

"All the controls are in French." Said Suga, "None of us speak French."

"Yeah I can see that being a problem." Said Miho, "Alright, although that means we'll find a crew for the Löwe and the Saumur."

"Well I dare say that we'll get some more volunteers after the first round draw." Said Anzu. Miho and Nicholas looked up, confused.

"The first round draw is on Wednesday." Said Anzu.

"I forgot!" cried Miho.

**Sensha-dō nationals 1st round draw**

The Nationals draw took place as it always had, in the assembly room of the National Sensha-dō hall. The room was packed with the senior members of all the nations competing Sensha-dō teams. Miho saw representatives from Pravda, Saunders, Kuromorimine, Anzio, St. Gloriana and many other schools. As the reigning champions, Ōarai were the first to draw. Miho went up to the stage and reached into the box containing each of the competing schools lots. Miho reached inside, nervous as the hall went silent. She grabbed a card and pulled it out, hoping for a easy opponent. She was greeted with horror when she number was called out over the PA system.

"Number 2!"

Miho looked at the card to read the name off it and was filled with dread, it read on it.

"Kuromorimine Girls School for Tankery."


	5. Chapter 5

New friends, new horizons

**Chapter 5: first round, first dogfight, First date**

**Ōarai Sensha-dō sheds, **

**Saturday following first round draw**

**12:35 am**

Nicholas watched as the final panzers reversed into their shed and powered down. He sighed heavily, since the draw for the first round 3 days ago. Miho had everyone training overtime. He could see as the crews climbed out of their panzers they were all exhausted from another day's hard training. Nicholas had also been in training, flying ground attack, evasive manoeuvres, etc. He was knackered. On the upside, the new crew's gunnery had improved; the boys in the conqueror were good at making use of the accurate American built 120mm L1A1 gun, and the both of the Yagami and Shimoji girls were also getting good with their panzers. They were due to make land at the field of battle for the first round in the morning so today's was the last practice before the match. It also ment that Miho had to choose its first round team for the first time since they restarted Sensha-dō. The various crews gathered around the Panzer IV as Miho cleared her thought.

"Right, before we begin, have the new crews thought of animal names for their panzer like we asked them to?" said Miho

"Yes." Said Mikoto , "We will go with fox team."

"We will go with penguin team." Said Mikaze.

"And what about boys?" asked Miho. Sora smiled and said

"We've decided to go with Rhino team."

"With that out of the way." Said Anzu, "Let's move onto team assignments for the first round, Miho?"

"The first round allows for 10 tanks on each team." Said Miho, "So we will field the following teams: Anglerfish team, Turtle team, Leopon team, Duck team, Rhino team, Fox team, Rabbit team, Anteater team, Mallard team and finally, Hippo team. I apologise Penguin team, but maybe next time. Alright then, dismissed, meat up here at 5 o'clock tomorrow morning." The crews all began to split off, heading home or off shopping. Nicholas grabbed his bag out of the spitfire's cockpit and closed it up. Miho meanwhile, was with getting her bag from where she had out it that morning Saori was the first of the group to speak,

"Ok Miho" she said "Spill." Miho looked back at them confused.

"Spill what?" she asked,

"How do you feel about Nicholas?" Miho looked like she was about to respond, "Don't try to deny it, you have feelings for him." Miho looked nervous,

"I think that..." Miho said Slowly "that Nicholas is a gentleman and almost perfect in every way but..." She was cut off by Saori.

"But what?" she practically shouted, "Do you like him?"

"Yes but..." said Miho,

"Then go and ask him if he wants to do anything this afternoon." Said Saori. Before Miho could respond Mako said in her usual emotionless voice,

"Its obvious he likes you, so just ask him out." Hana also chimed in before Miho could respond.

"He is very nice, and he is clearly very fond of you." Miho let out a deep sigh.

"I'm not going to get out of this, am I?" she said.

"No." Said all 3 of them simultaneously. Miho admitted surrender and said,

"Fine, I'll go and spend the afternoon with Nicholas."

"Good, now get over there." Said Saori, she grabbed Miho and pushed her towards Nicholas. Nicholas turned around was walking towards his car when Miho came up to him.

"Hey Nicholas." She said awkwardly,

"Hey Miho." Said Nicholas. He could tell she was uneasy. Truthfully so was he, he had been wanting to ask her out for a while but he hadn't been able to summon the courage. He was just better at hiding how he felt. He decided quickly that he might as well go for it.

"I was wondering, if your free if you want to go shopping or something this afternoon." Said Nicholas. Miho froze, she couldn't believe her luck; guess she wouldn't have to ask him herself, what a relief.

"Sure." Said Miho happily. They walked over to Nicholas' car and drove off together. Watching them, with a sense of achievement, was Saori; with her was Hana and Mako.

"Well," said Saori, "We've got them together. Lets go get some food."

"Sure, let's go eat at the panzer cafe." Said Mako in her normal voice. Hana looked around and said,

"Where did Yukari go?"

* * *

**Ōarai shopping mall**

**12:50 am**

Nicholas and Miho walked into the large shopping mall. It was the main center of retail on the ship. Its multiple levels packed with restaurants and shops with everything from clothes to food, it even had a panzer shop. There were escalators and lifts going to all levels and the place was packed. Nicholas spotted a clothes shop he wanted to have a look in. He led Miho inside and started trying on various shirts. While he was trying on a shirt, Miho was looking through a rack of shirts when she spotted a flash of brown hair that looked familiar. Nicholas reappeared with and asked if Miho had found anything she wanted, she shook her head, so Nicholas paid for the various items of clothing and the 2 friends left the store. As they did, Nicholas got a feeling that they were being followed; he buried the feeling but kept alert. Nicholas looked at his watch; he turned and asked Miho,

"Want to get something to eat?" Miho looked at Nicholas and smiled. The turned into one of the many cafe's in the mall. They grabbed a table and looked over the menu, quickly deciding what they wanted. A waiter quickly arrived and asked,

"What can I get you?"

"2 Diet cokes, a prawn cocktail and a smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwich please." Said Nicholas. The waiter took their order and went to get their drinks and food. He returned with their drinks and left the 2 teenagers to themselves. Nicholas looked over Miho's shoulder and spotted who had given the feeling that he was being followed.

"Yukari's following us." Said Nicholas. Miho nodded sadly,

"I spotted her outside the clothes shop." She said, "My guess is that she is following for my protection, she trusts you about as far as she can throw you."

"So I've gathered." Said Nicholas, "Am I that untrustworthy?"

"No." Said Miho, she chuckled and continued, "But she is very over protective."

"It maybe something else." Said Nicholas. Miho's looked at him confused. Nicholas continued, "Think about it. She's overprotective; she went ballistic when you gave them the wrong impression when you told them you stayed at my house and Yes Saori told me. She must have run a full background check on me to find out about those 2 men, I think she's either obsessed to a extreme level, or she is in love with you." Miho looked at Nicholas as if he had just said drooled down his front.

"That's crazy!" said Miho.

"Is it?" asked Nicholas, "Think about it." Miho was about to tell Nicholas that it wasn't possible when it occurred to her, it retrospect, it wasn't that crazy. Yukari's obsession with Miho was beyond normal, she practically worshiped Miho. Could Yukari be a lesbian? She was brought from her musings by the waiter bringing their lunches. As he took a forkful of prawn cocktail, Nicholas spotted Yukari go into a shop.

"You might want to talk to her at some point about it. Anyhow," said Nicholas, " what do you want to do later?"

" I was going to plan what were going to do against my sister and her school on Tuesday." Said Miho,

"Ah yes, I forgot" said Nicholas, "Erika mentioned your sister was the captain of her schools Sensha-dō team." Miho decided to ask a question she had been meaning to ask Nicholas for a while.

"How do you know Erika?" she asked,

"She was a pilot in my Kreigsflieger squadron, she flew a Me 109, hell of a pilot, gave me a run for my money." Said Nicholas. "She was shot down during the same John was killed in, she saved my life that day" Nicholas looked down sadly at his plate.

"Any idea what she might be flying on Tuesday?" asked Miho,

"Don't know" said Nicholas, "Her 109 was destroyed during the match and she quit after Johns death to take up Sensha-dō. That said, I've got a few ideas, Its a German themed team right?" Miho nodded, "It would stand to reason that they would use a German fighter, sadly they have a lot to choose from."

"What's the worst case scenario?" asked Miho,

"Probably a Me 262." Said Nicholas, "First operational jet fighter, 4 20mm cannon for armament and, oh a top speed in excess of 500 miles per hour."

"What happens if one of those turns up?" asked Miho,

"Start praying." Said Nicholas. Miho sighed. That sounded like Kuromorimine, fielding the best and heaviest German tech from World War 2.

"Well we get to the battle field in a few days." Said Nicholas, "The battlefield is a canyon with forest on either side, we start at opposite ends of the canyons, and if remember what Darjeeling told me, Late war German tanks like the king tigers and panthers, and especially the Maus, they will take forever to climb the sides of the canyons for cover, making easy targets for a certain roaming Spitfire." Miho smiled, it was nice to have a person around who could bring you out of a funk. Nicholas was a good friend, she was happy when he was around. But in a few days, it will be the hardest fight of their career.

* * *

**First round battlefield assembly area**

**7:30 am**

Nicholas looked out over the airfield that was being used as Ōarai's base of operations for the first round match. He had been satisfied that his Spitfire was ready and loaded, so he decided to take a walk, clear his head before the start of battle at of the other crews were making final prep for the match, there was only 2 problems. Firstly, The Tiger P's engine decided that it wanted to disagree with the Transmition again, it would probably be fixed but it wasn't certain. And the other problem was Miho, she was in full panic mode, she was running around everywhere making sure everyone and every machine was ready. Seeing that everyone had been up at the crack of dawn and probably hadn't eaten breakfast. Nicholas decided that he would make use of his charge account, he went down to one of the many food trailers that were selling food to the public, and purchased a load of food, enough chips for a large portion between 2 people and a can of coke each. He called in a favour from a old friend and a friend of Miho's to help move the mass of food to Ōarai's prep area. He looked over down the runway and smiled, food had arrived. The jeep pulling the trailer packed with paper bags full of chips and crates of coke pulled up, out hopped a beautiful, tall blond girl.

"Hey Kay." Said Nicholas, "Good to see you again."

"Long time no see Nicholas." Said Kay, she embraced Nicholas in a friendly hug, Nicholas hugged her back.

"Thanks for using the jeep to bring breakfast." Said Nicholas, "The team need it, and Miho will, if she doesn't calm down, need an ambulance."

"What's she worrying about?" asked a voice from behind both Nicholas and Kay, the two spun round, Nicholas instinctively reaching for the colt under his flying jacket. Behind them both was a girl that looked like a version of Miho a few years older and with darker hair and fairer skin. Kay was the first to speak.

"How ya been Maho?" she said,

"Fine thanks Kay" said Maho, "Now what is my sister worrying about?" she asked, turning to Nicholas. Nicholas sighed ,

"She's worried how were going to be able to deal with your heavy tiger and panther tanks." He said. Maho laughed, she then said,

"She's worrying for no reason." She said. Miho looked over at the Trio and froze in place. Maho walked up to her younger sister and said,

"How have you been sis?"

"Fairly panicky I'd say." Said Nicholas. Maho turned to Nicholas, a look of annoyance on her face.

"And you are?" She asked,

"Nicholas, Nicholas white, Ōarai's pilot and friend of Miho." Said Nicholas. He raised his hand and offered it to her. She didn't shake it. She instead turned back to Miho and said,

"If you're not worried about our panzers, don't be, come with me." Miho looked at the team, she decided that the team would be fine for the next few minutes.

"ok." Said Miho, "MOMO! Get everybody ready in 25 minutes. Then everyone move to the start point, Anglerfish team wait till I'm back."

"Got it commander!" yelled Momo back, "AND DON'T CALL ME MOMO!"

"Alright Maho lets go, Nicholas come with us, and before you complain, he helped me out recently." Said Miho,

"Wait before we go." Said Nicholas, he ran over to the jeep and honked the horn. That got the attention of the team. He yelled out to them,

"Who had breakfast?" No one put their hands up. "Good thing I bought some then, chips are between 2, a coke per person." He turned to Kay and said, "Kay, give them their food, and remember I owe you one."

"No." Said Kay, "Were even." Nicholas grabbed a packet of chips and 3 cokes from the trailer and walked up to the 2 Nishizumi sisters.

"Right lets go." He said, handing each of the sisters a coke and unfolded the bag of chips. The trio walked over to the Kuromorimine assembly area. Parked out on the assembly lane were not what either of the Ōarai students expected. Instead of the expected King tigers and Panthers, there were 5 parked Panzer III Ausf J's, Maho's Tiger I and 3 Jagdpanzer IV's and at the very end a very unexpected surprise, a Wirbelwind flakpanzer.

"What do you think your playing at? Get Moving?" A voice yelled. Standing in front of the Line of Panzers were 2 girls, one dressed in the standard Kuromorimine Sensha-dō uniform, the other had grey hair and was dressed in a Luftwaffe pilots uniform and leather flying jacket. The 2 girls turned and walked toward Maho, Miho and Nicholas. Maho said as the 2 advanced.

"Miho, Nicholas this is my second in command, Tae Anegasaki, and our pilot..." Maho was interrupted by Erika and Nicholas shaking hands. Nicholas said,

"Good to see you again Erika, from the shouting I see you haven't changed much." Erika laughed, something that neither Maho nor Miho had heard.

"You too Nicholas, you however have changed a bit, bin working out tough guy?" Erika looked at Maho and Rias, both obviously confused and stunned,

"Nicholas is a old friend, he taught me how to fly."

"Yeah speaking of which," said Nicholas, "last I saw your 109 it was a falling out of the sky with flames coming out of it. So what are you flying these days? Other than a Fa223."

"Wait and see, Nicholas, but it's not the Fa223." The 2 of them started talking aircraft. Miho turned to Maho and asked,

"Hey sis? Where are the Panthers and other heavies?"

"It took some doing to convince Nishizumi- sensei , but I wanted to try using smaller, faster, more manoverable panzers, rather the heavier tanks that focused on power." Said Tea. Miho looked at the girl, she seemed familiar somehow. Miho was trying to recognise her, then it hit her.

"I remember you." she said, "You commanded the Jagtpanther in last year's match." Tea sighed deeply,

"Yes that was me, remind me to thank your Hetzer's crew for making me fix that damn track... TWICE!"

"Well at least a Jagdpanzer IV's tracks are lighter than those on a Jagdpanther." Said Nicholas, All 3 of the tankers jumped, not having heard him come up behind them. Erika stood next to him, a smile plastered on her face. A younger girl, dressed in a Kuromorimine uniform ran up to the group of commanders and pilots

"Commander Maho." She said, catching her breath, "All panzers are ready to go."

"Thank you Satsuki." Said Maho, she turned to Erika and said "Ready to fly Erika?"

"On your order Commander." She said.

"Good." Said Maho, she turned to Rias and Satsuki, "Get the team in their panzers, and have the commanders form up for the match greet."

"Yes Ma'am." Said Erika and Satsuki, both snapping to attention as they did, they turned and ran to their crews. Miho turned to Nicholas to see he was already on his phone conversing with Momo.

"Momo, Miho and I are on our way back, are the crews ready? Good, have the commanders gather for the greeting. How was the breakfast? Glad to hear it. See you soon... bye." He Hung up and turned and said to Miho,

"Preparations are complete, waiting on your orders commander."

"Let's go Nicholas." Said Miho, she turned to her Sister and said,

"Good luck Sis." She raised her, Maho shook it. Returning the gesture with a warm smile.

"You too Sis." Miho nodded and turned back to join Nicholas, the 2 walked back to the Ōarai assembly area.

* * *

**Ōarai first round Starting position 8:00**

"Match Begin!"

The Ōarai panzers lurched forward, forming into a arrow head formation. Miho sat in her command seat and said,

"Saori, patch me through to the teams."

"Yes Miho, you're live with the commanders." Said Saori. Miho nodded and said into her headset,

"Ok, listen in guys, I we need some scouts to find them, then we can plan what we want to do. Duck team, move up the left side of the canyon and scout, Fox team, move up the right. Leopon, go with duck team, Rhino team go with fox, once you're up, hold position in the forest. Understood?"

"_Understood_." Said Noriko.

"_Affirmative_" said Mikoto

"_On it_." Said Nakajima,

"_Got it_." Said Tsubasa. The 4 panzers departed the formation, splitting off and heading up the hill.

"Everyone else, form up around Rabbit team, there the flag tank, if they get taken out, well, there's always next year. Out." She disconnected the headset from the channel and said to Saori,

"link me onto Nicholas' channel please Saori." Saori changed the channel and nodded to Miho.

"Nicholas are you there?" Asked Miho into the Mic,

"_On station, commander. Request permission to go after Erika, as long as she's up here somewhere, she's a threat." _

"Permission granted, good hunting." Said Miho,

"_You too, Nicholas out." _Nicholas rung off the radio. Now came the moment Miho hated, the waiting.

* * *

Mikoto stood in the cupola of her M5 Stuart, they had climbed the hill and manoeuvred into the forest, hoping that the tree cover would shield them from any flying threats till Nicholas had destroyed them. Their Stuart crept closer to the edge of the forest. Mikoto pressed her throat-mic And said,

"Akira, hold up." The Stuart came to a stop and the engine came to a low rumble. She pressed a pair of binoculars to her eyes and scanned her surroundings. She passed over the floor of the canyon when something caught her eye, a dust cloud, a big one. She ducked down into the tank and turned to her loader.

"Tenma, grab your binoculars and come with me, were going scouting." Mikoto climbed out of the hatch and jumped down from the tank. Tenma followed, jumping down from the tanks turret. The 2 moved to the edge of the canyon, as they approached, Mikoto motioned for Tenma to go prone on the rocky ground. Mikoto lay down next to Tenma. Both pressed their goggles to their eyes, scanning the ground. Mikoto spotted the dust cloud she had seen from the panzer. She looked at the base and spotted what she had been expected.

"There." She said, Tenma looked at her,

"What Mikoto?" she asked,

"See that dust cloud?" asked Mikoto. Tenma pointed her binoculars in the direction of the dust cloud.

"Yeah." Said Tenma,

"Look at the base of the front." Said Mikoto. Tenma did as she was instructed. She spotted 5 panzers, moving quickly towards the Ōarai tanks still in the valley.

"I see them!" cried Tenma,

"Panzer III's 5 of them, moving about... 40Kph, they'll be on the commander in minutes, we need to warn them!" said Mikoto, She got up and sprinted back to the waiting Stuart.

"Mikoto wait! Cried Tenma as she raced to catch up with Mikoto. Mikoto jumped up side of the Stuart, using the tracks as a food hold. Tenma, who was much shorter than Mikoto, had some trouble.

"Mikoto!" Mikoto looked down at Tenma. "Little help?" asked Tenma. Mikoto smiled and reached down to her, she pulled Tenma up and she climbed into the turret, Mikoto followed her, dropping into her seat, Mikoto grabbed her head set and hit the call button,

"Fox team to Anglerfish, Commander you there?!" said Mikoto with a sense of urgency, something uncharacteristic of the normally calm black belt.

"_Were here Fox team, what's wrong?"_Said Saori over the radio,

"We've got eyes on Enemy panzers, 5 panzer III's moving at about 40KPH heading straight for you along the canyon floor." Said Mikoto,

"_Confirmed." _Said Another voice, it was Nicholas.

_"I see them, no sign of their flag tank, or their tank destroyers or flak tank, or Erika for that matter." _

"_Thanks for the heads up Fox, resume scouting, do not engage unless you're spotted, out." _Said Miho, now coming over the radio, the radio shut off. Mikoto said into her throat mic,

"Akira, take us further along the ridge, let's see what we can find. " The Stuart once again gained speed, disappearing into the forest .

* * *

Nicholas rolled out from his climbing turn, he had leaved off at 5000 feet, the maximum height for the match. The sky was good flying weather, next to no wind, light cloud. Nicholas looked down over the battle field, the cliff was beautifully flanked by lavish forests. Nicholas could see the dust cloud that Fox team had spotted, it was getting close to the Ōarai panzers, it wouldn't be long till the 2 forces started trading shots. Nicholas looked over the forest and saw a glint of yellow, on closer inspection it seemed to be moving, in figure of 8's over the forest. Erika. Nicholas, keyed his radio,

"Nicholas to anglerfish team, I've got eyes on Erika, I'm engaging, I won't be available for ground attack for a while, wish me luck, out." Nicholas closed the link, took a deep breath, rolled his port wing over and dived. His Spitfire gained speed, the speedometer showing just over 400 miles per hour, Nicholas flicked the cannon arming switch, removing the safety's on his cannon and machine guns, he judged Erika to be at about 1000 feet, when the altimeter reached 2000, he squeezed the fire control on his control stick, and all hell let loose. Tracer streaked forward from Nicholas' guns, blazing across the sky, Erika snapped to the right, Nicholas levelled out, trying to turn with Erika. Nicholas saw what Erika was trying to do, she was trying to force him to overshoot, placing her in a ideal attack position, a good, if basic move, Nicholas smiled, Erika hadn't lost her touch. Nicholas tapped the left rudder and pulled up, executing a barrel role, bleeding off airspeed while keeping him behind Erika, as he passed the top of the barrel role, he saw his target, a yellow nosed Focke-wulf 190, a German fighter built to out fight the Spitfire in the battle of Britain, a dangerous opponent. Erika snapped her aircraft back to the left, diving for the tree line, gaining speed as she did. Nicholas perused, squeezing a burst from his guns. The Back of the Focke-wulf started to leek a trail of blankness across the sky, he must have hit an oil line. The tree line beneath them gave way to the rocky canyon, Erika dived into the canyon. Nicholas followed, noticing a pair of smoke collmes rising from the canyon floor. He hoped that they were from Kuromorimine panzers and not Ōarai's , and especially not Miho's. Nicholas retuned his focus to Erika, she was flying near straight and level down the canyon, was she crazy? Any pilot knows that if you fly straight and level in a dogfight your as good as dead. Nicholas fired, raking the Focke-wulf with fire. Erika broke let, climbing up over the canyon wall in a spiralling climb, Nicholas advanced the throttle to full power and gave chase. He pulled hard back on the stick, trying to get a pull lead for another burst, almost, almost... NOW! Nicholas squeezed the fire control, releasing a long burst of continuous fire, Erika's Focke-wulf lit up with lights of impact, then it happened, A trail of green smoke deployed from the Plane, it was dead. Nicholas broke off his pursuit, satisfied his job was done for the moment, he keyed his throat Mic, saying in to in,

"Nicholas to All Ōarai teams, Enemy air support destroyed, on station ready for airstrike..." he was interrupted by a stream of tracer hitting his Spitfire,

"Oh Shit!" he shouted, snapping the control column to the rear and rolling hard to avoid the incoming fire. "But... Erika's down, what could be... of course it would be..." Nicholas rolled over the top and saw what was shooting at him, that damn Wirbelwind flak panzer. Nicholas climbed up to 4000 feet, out of range. He looked out over his aircraft and instruments. Engine... fine, throttle... fine, Pitch... fine, Rudder... fine roll... sluggish, Nicholas looked out at his wings, port aileron... fine, starboard aileron... gone.

"Bugger" said Nicholas. Immediately the radio erupted with the sound of a frantic Miho,

"Nicholas! Are you ok?!"

"Fine." Said Nicholas back over the radio, "Their flak panzer hit me, shot off my starboard aileron, other than that I'm fine, everything else is fine, how it going at your end?"

* * *

Miho stood in the Cupola of her Panzer IV, binoculars pressed to her face, she had heard from fox team and Nicholas that they had 5 panzer III's heading their way, she had moved, anteater, turtle, hippo, Mallard and her own anglerfish team up to a ridge in the canyon floor, all of the tanks had assumed a hull down position about 100 meters from where rabbit team was. While they were waiting, Nicholas had reported that he had engaged Erika; hopefully he would keep her busy enough to keep her away from the rest of the team for a bit. Miho spotted the dust cloud, with 5 panzer III's at its base. She ducked into the turret,

"Hana," she said, "Have you got the panzer III's in your sights?"

"Yes" said Hana, her voice in a emotionless, Zen like state that she entered every time she was aiming and firing the main gun.

"AP round loaded." Said Yukari,

"Hana, hold fire until all panzers are ready to fire." Said Miho. "Saori patch me through to the rest of the group." Saori did and nodded to Miho. She pressed her throat mic and said,

"Anglerfish to, turtle, Mallard, hippo and anteater test, you have visual contact with the Panzer III's to our front, are you ready to fire?"

"_Hippo here," _said Erwin_ "target acquired, ready to fire on your orders_."

"_This is Anteater" _said Nekota_, "main gun ready." _

"_This is Turtle." _Said Anzu, "Ready to blow up some panzers."

"_Mallard__ team here," _said Sodoko, _"we've got the 47mm ready to fire, the 75 is concealed along with the rest of the hull." _

"Good, fire on my command, coordinate your fire." Said Miho, "All panzers fire in 3...2...1... FIRE!" All 5 Ōarai panzers fired at the approaching Panzer III's. One of them took a direct hit to its left track, causing it to spin out from the sudden loss of momentum on one side. Another took a hit and immediately came to a halt, the white flag deploying from its top of the turret. The remaining 3 slowed, dropping to about 20 KPH, and fired. One shot bounced of the Panzer IV's turret. Another shot bounced off the Hetzer's front slopped. The third shot lodged itself in the in the front armour of the Chi-Nu. The Ōarai panzers unleashed a second salvo, finishing off the tracked Panzer III, another succumbed to the combined fire power of 3 75mm high velocity guns. The remaining 2 halted, fired a final shot, and turned about, heading back the way they came. Miho activated her throat mic,

"All Panzers, advance, pursue them." The 5 panzers started forward, gaining speed and forming into an arrowhead formation. As they advanced Nicholas came over the Radio.

"_Nicholas to All Ōarai teams, Enemy air support destroyed, on station ready for airstrike... OH SHIT!" _A sound of impacts came over the radio, coupled with the sound Nicholas shouting in surprise, something deeply uncharacteristic of him, made Miho go white and still, the entire crew went silent, eyes wide with Terror, especially Miho's, She immediately activated her throat, practically yelling into the Mic,

"Nicholas! Are you ok?!" A few tense moments passed before Nicholas responded,

"_Fine."_ Said Nicholas back over the radio, "_Their flak panzer hit me, shot off my starboard aileron, other than that I'm fine, everything else is fine, how it going at your end?" _Miho let out a deep breath that she didn't realise she was holding.

"Good." Said Miho, "We've engaged the Kuromorimine panzer III's, 3 have been disabled with no casualties, were perusing the remaining 2 down the canyon. Any air support you could lend would be helpful."

" _I'll do what I can, but my manoeuvrability has been compromised, and with that Flak panzer still out there, I'm siding on the side of caution." _Said Nicholas over the radio, _"I'll do observation, but airstrikes will be at a premium, at least until that flak panzer is knocked out."_

"Got it Nicholas, thanks." Said Miho, "If you feel like your plane is getting worse, go back to base, don't risk your plane, or yourself."

"_Roger._" Said Nicholas, "_I'll keep the spit safe_."

"Keep yourself safe first, out." Said Miho forcefully. She hung up on the radio. Saori looked at Miho and said,

"You want Nicholas to stay safe don't you?"

"Of course I do." Said Miho, "I would say the same for anyone in the team."

"But Nicholas especially." Giggled Saori, Before Miho could respond, The main gun kicked back, discarding another spent shell. Hana pulled her head from the gun sight, she turned to Miho and said,

"Another of the Panzer III's has been knocked out."

"Good work, just one left." Said Miho, "Saori, patch me through to Leopon, rhino, duck and fox teams."

"On it." Said Saori' She turned to her radio set and tuned it to the right channel. "Your live Miho."

"Thanks Saori." Said Miho, she pressed her throat mic and said,

" Leopon, duck, fox, rhino, you there?"

" _Duck here." _Said Taeko over the radio, "_We and Leopon have held up, Leopon threw a track so we stopped to help, but we haven't seen anything."_

"_Fox team... ere." _Said Mikoto the signal was very bad, "_We've...lost...tact with... Rhino... were...ing...along the ridge..." _They lost the signal.

"Fox team, Fox... Mikoto respond..." said Miho,

"The signal is very bad, it could be possible that Rhino are further in the radio dead zone than Fox." Said Saori.

"Possibly, were just going to have to deal without them." Said Miho, she seemed distracted, it wasn't like Black forest peak to retreat, especially after such a brief engagement. Something else was afoot.

* * *

Meanwhile in the Kuromorimine Tiger tank, Maho watched from her Cupola, binoculars placed to her face. Her Radio operator opened her hatch and looked up at Maho,

"Commander" the freshman said, "I've got Panzer 5 on the horn, she sounds pretty on edge."

"Thanks Aiko." Said Maho, "Patch them through to me."

"On it." Aiko dropped back into her hatch. Just after she did, Maho's headset ripped into life, it filled with the sounds of engine and the sounds of shots landing near the tank.

"_Commander_!" said the Panzer III's commander in a voice laced with panic, "_Were taking heavy fire but were leading them in, I recon maybe 30 seconds till there in position." _

"Don't panic." Said Maho, "Keep luring them to point kilo."

"_Yes commander!" _Said The panicking commander. She closed the link. Maho pressed her throat mic and said,

"Akio, patch me through to Tae in panzer 7 please."

"On it." Said Aiko, "Got it."

"Tae, you ready?" said Maho,

"_Just about," _Said Tae back over the radio, "_The Jagdpanzer IV handles differently from the Jagdpanther but were just about ready, panzer 10 has moved up to join us and cover us from the Spitfire." _

"Good work." Said Maho, "Their about 20 seconds out, target the panzer IV, if we take out my sister, they've lost their command. Out."

* * *

Nicholas came in low, racing over the Ōarai panzers, gun sight trained on the retreating Panzer III, he fired a short burst from his cannon, he ceased fire and pulled up, passing over the Panzer III, as he passed over the tree line, he spotted something, a large speck of yellow in the green of the tree line. As he pulled up, a stream of fire erupted from behind the Speck, as he jinked to avoid the torrent of fire, he saw what the speck was, the 3 Jagdpanzer IV's, in perfect firing position, undetected. It all made sense now. They were luring the Ōarai tanks in. Nicholas hit the radio and yelled into it,

"AMBUSH!"

* * *

Miho watched as Nicholas pulled out of his strafing run. Her gut feeling that something was wrong, Kuromorimine didn't retreat like this, and also where was her sisters Tiger and the Jagdpanzers, where were they. She saw a stream of tracer rise out of the tree line. Wait, Nicholas couldn't attack the flag panzer, but he could still attack the Jagdpanzers, so what which would they protect from air attack if their main asset was safe. Suddenly Nicholas came over the radio, yelling something that confirmed her theory in one word.

"_AMBUSH!" _

"All tanks! Halt! Dead stop!" said Miho, practically yelling through the radio. The panzer IV came to a dead halt. As it did, there were 4 loud bangs, one significantly deeper than the others, the ground in front of the Panzer IV erupted in a shower of dirt. Almost immediately the radio erupted with reports, Nicholas was the first to report,

"_Contact! Southern ridge! __3 Jagdpanzer IV's, 1 Wirbelwind flak panzer! __I can't make attack runs on them till it's gone." _Said Nicholas. The follow up report was the one that got Miho worried,

"_This is Duck, we've found their flag tank, it's on the northern ridge just inside the tree line. They haven't seen us."_

"Duck track them then run for it! Rabbit, fall back! Get out of here!" Miho started barking orders.

"_Got it!" _Taeko said, there was a brief pause on the radio, followed by a thud and an engine revving. "_Tiger is tracked, retreating into the forest. Out."_

"Got it!" said Miho, She returned to trying to coordinate her team. "Has anyone got a shot on the Tiger?"

"_Negative!" _said Anteater

"_Nope!" _said Hippo,

"_No, to high." _Said Mallard,

"_No way."_ Said Anzu, as she finished, there was a huge bang as the Kuromorimine panzers unleashed another salvo. Miho looked out of her Cupola, she saw the white flag pop hanging over the Hetzer. She immediately decided on her best course of action.

"Everyone fall back! Retreat!" All the Ōarai panzers started to retreat, those with turrets firing into the area of the incoming fire. The radio once again ripped into life, this time, it was Leopon.

"_Commander" _Said Nakajima, "_We've fixed our track and heading for the flag tank, we've got the best hope of taking it out."_

"Copy, good luck Leopon" said Miho. She sighed deeply, they needed a miracle.

* * *

Mikoto stood in the Cupola of her M5 Stuart. She had heard over the radio Miho's orders to fall back, but she went out on a limb and guessed that she hadn't been detected, so she and her crew pressed on. As they advanced, they moved near a small clearing near the edge of the forest. Inside was the source of all their current problems, the 3 Jagdpanzer IV's and the Wirbelwind. But they hadn't seen them, and with the amount of noise that the 4 panzers were giving off from firing, she doubted that she they could hear them. Mikoto dropped into the turret and turned to her gunner.

"Eri," she said, the tall blond beauty turned to her blue haired friend, "Do you think you can hit the back of the flak panzer from here?"

"Easily." Said Eri, "But as soon as we do, those Jagdpanzers are going to turn and kill us."

" No they won't." said Mikoto, "As soon as that flak panzer is gone, Nicholas can role in and blow them to hell."

"Good plan Mikoto!" cried Tenma from the loaders seat. Mikoto smiled at her short blue haired friend.

"Tenma, get Nicholas on the line, then get an Armour Piercing round in the barrel , Eri tank aim and fire on my command."

"Got it." Said Eri, repressing her eyes to the gun sight. Tenma went to her radio, she moved some of the dials and nodded to Mikoto, she then started loading an armour piercing round. Mikoto activated her head set and said,

"Nicholas, its Mikoto in fox team, you there?"

"_I'm here Mikoto, what's up?" _Said Nicholas, his voice was strained, he was clearly tired.

"Were in perfect firing position to take out the Flak panzer, once we fire, the Jagdpanzers are going to be vunerable, when I say, blow them to hell." Said Mikoto,

"_Got it, on your word."_ Said Nicholas. Mikoto signed off. Tenma turned to Mikoto and said,

"Gun up, ready to fire." Mikoto nodded and asked Eri,

"You ready Eri?"

"I've got the gun trained on his exhaust, at this range, about 25 meters, it should go straight through their rear armour." Said Eri. Mikoto nodded and said, pressing her throat mic,

"Akira, as soon as Eri's fired, get us out of here, Nicholas is going to rain hell down on us."

"Got it." Came the emotionless response from the driver's seat.

"Eri, take the shot." Said Mikoto,

"Brace." Said Eri, a moment passed and the gun fired. The 37mm shell impacted the Flakpanzer, punching right through the rear armour and causing the engine to ceremoniously explode. As soon as engine fire started, the white flag popped out. Barely having time to acknowledge their success, The Stuart spun around 180 degrees and retreated into the forest. Mikoto pressed her headset again and called out on the team frequency,

"This is Fox team; we've taken out the Flakpanzer, Nicholas you're cleared in hot." Back over the radio came Nicholas,

"A_cknowledged Fox, you might want to back up a little. Rockets away!" _The ground shook under the impact of the full rocket load of Nicholas' spitfire. Mikoto looked up and saw the spitfire banking away over the tree line.

* * *

"_This is Fox team, we've taken out the Flakpanzer, Nicholas you're cleared in hot_." Those were words that Miho didn't expect to here.

"A_cknowledged Fox, you might want to back up a little. Rockets away!" _said Nicholas. Miho stood in her turret, pressing her binoculars to her eyes to see the Jagdpanzer IV's. She watched as the ground around them exploded with rocket fire. Almost instantly all 3 Jagdpanzer IV's flags deployed. Miho smiled, they got the miracle she was hoping for. She was brought from her musings when there was a loud bang behind Miho. She spun round and saw Mallard team's Char B1 Bis engine deck smoking and the white flag deploy. Miho pressed her throat Mic and asked,

"Has anyone got a line of sight on the enemy flag tank?" Before anyone could answer, a deep clap of thunder rolled over the valley. Followed by an unexpected announcement,

"_The Kuromorimine flag panzer has been immobilised! The winner is Ōarai Girls Academy!" _ Miho thought for a moment, the gravity of the announcement sinking in. She fully realised what it was when Yukari leapt across the turret and hugged her, she immediately backed off and apologised. Miho picked up her Mic and said into it,

"Nice work Leopon team." She said, she assumed it was Leopon because they had reported that they were moving to engage the flag tank.

"_Umm... that wasn't us commander." _Said Nakajima back over the radio. Everyone on Anglerfish team was surprised,

"Then who..." asked Hana, she was answered before she could finish. The radio crackled into life once more,

"_Commander, its Rhino team, target destroyed." _


	6. Chapter 6

New friends, new horizons

**Chapter 6: First round aftermath, second round prep, poking the bear! **

**First round battlefield assembly area**

**8:45 am. **

Nicholas' Spitfire touched down on the runway. Nicholas let out a deep sigh, he was shattered. He taxied off the runway and towards the Ōarai assembly area. He saw the Ōarai panzers pulling into the assembly area. He smiled when he saw Miho and the rest of Anglerfish ream waiting for him. He bought the Spit to a halt and powered down the engine. He slid back the canopy and opened the slid flap, undid his straps and climbed out. He jumped off the back of the Spitfire's wing, stretching out for the first time in over an hour. He walked around his Spitfire, assessing the damage. Scorch marks around the exhaust, 20mm impact holes, one looked suspicious, he made a mental note to check that round later. He then got to the Starboard wing... Holy hell. Oil dripping, control lines over stretched, Aileron shot off and about 100 odd bullet holes.

"How's it looking?" Asked a familiar voice,

"Bad Miho" said Nicholas, "Either a lot of work and spares, or a whole new wing." He turned and looked at Miho, "And I've seen our budget, I'll break out the tool and patching up kits once we get back. But I am going to need a new Aileron and new control lines and oil lines, but for today... I want to celebrate a hard won victory with a friend." Miho smiled and then said,

"Then lets go, were due back on the ship at 7, let's go have some fun. But first, I have to see to the panzers."

"Miho, Nicholas." Said A voice. The two looked at the source of the voice. Miho immediately froze with fear. Standing in front of them was the assembled command of the Kuromorimine, Maho, Erika, Tae, and an elder woman who looked much like a older version of Maho.

"Mother." Said Miho, her voice was laced with fear. Nicholas, realizing that Miho's relationship was not the best of parent/ child relationships, decided to try and defuse the awkwardness of the situation.

"Headmistress Nishizumi," he said Stepping towards her , raising his hand. All he got in return was a level 10 death glare from the Nishizumi matriarch.

"So," said the Senior Nishizumi, staring at Miho, "You have let _boys_ onto your team."

"Yes, I have." Said Miho, in a weak voice. Shiho sighed,

"And here I thought you would at least have kept vaguely loyal to the Nishizumi style and traditional Sensha-dō , after all you are one of 2 heirs to it." She said, Miho looked hurt and on the verge of tears. Nicholas, who felt his anger growing, decided to step in.

"Ma'am," said Nicholas, "I haven't known Miho long, but she has become one of my best friends. I also know that everyone interprets things in different ways, thus it would stand to reason that she might be following the Nishizumi style in her own way... a way that wouldn't risk the lives of 5 crew members for victory." Miho, and everyone was stunned, not expecting such a back lash from Nicholas.

"And you are?" asked a disgusted Shiho,

"Nicholas white, Ōarai's spitfire pilot." Said Nicholas,

"So," said Shiho in a disapproving manner, "You're the one who caused Erika to fail."

"Erika is one of the best pilots I know" said Nicholas, anger lacing his voice, "and I'm willing to bet that was the first time she flew that FW 190 in combat. The rules for fighter planes in Sensha-dō came a few weeks ago, last I saw Erika in a plane, it was on fire and she was mid bailing out at 5000 ft. Tell me Erika, how many hours have you logged in that 190? 10? 20?"

"12." Said Erika sadly. Shiho shot Erika a glare.

"Exactly." Said Nicholas, "No one, no matter how good, can master a plane in 12 hours. Erika is one of the best pilots I've had the pleasure of teaching. And also on topic of aircraft, I do believe that you also fielded a aircraft today, not exactly Traditional Sensha-dō is it?" Shiho was practically steaming with anger, Erika was trying to hide a smirk.

"The Nishizumi style has had to adapt to changes, but will not stoop to allowing _boys_ into its ranks. It would only weaken our team" Said Shiho. Nicholas smiled, all that time with his uncle, a lawyer in Tokyo, was paying off, he had her right where she wanted.

"I wouldn't diss the lads if I were you," said Nicholas with a smirk, "They were the ones who took out your flag tank." Shiho looked at Nicholas with a scowl, fuming that she had been made speechless by a mouthy teenager. Tae, seeing that Headmistress Nishizumi was about to explode, stepped forward and said

"Headmistress, we need you to sign for the transport of the panzers back to the carrier ship."

Shiho let out a deep breath and said,

"Very well, lead the way Tae" she turned to leave when she stopped and said,

"Miho, take care. Maho, Erika, you are free till departure time, have a good day." She turned and walked off, Tae accompany her back towards the Kuromorimine assembly area. Nicholas said to Erika and Maho,

"Say thanks to Tae for me." Said Nicholas.

"While I think your tone could be improved," said Maho, "I have to admit, now that she is out of earshot, I think mother could stand to be knocked down a peg or two." Everyone nodded. Erika stepped forward toward Nicholas and offered a hand,

"Good flight Nicholas." She said,

"Likewise." Said Nicholas, shaking Erika's hand. She stepped back and reached into her pocket, she produced a small package and passed it to Nicholas.

"Not to be opened before the day." She said with a smile. A stunned look crossed his face, he looked at the package, he immediately said in a stunned voice,

"Erika, I can't take this, its was your..."

"Its alright," said Erika, "He left it for you in his will. Happy Birthday Nicholas." She enveloped Nicholas in a warm hug. Nicholas returned the sign of affection. While they did, Maho turned to her younger sister,

"Well played commander." Said Maho, "I thought we had you this time."

"You would have," said Miho, "Nicholas warned us when he spotted your Jagdpanzers IV's, we halted just in time, otherwise you would have taken us out, and I get a feeling that if he hadn't, you would have a chance to get your title back." Maho chuckled,

"Well, maybe next year." She said. She shook her sisters hand one last time and turned to leave. Miho called after her,

"Sis!" Maho turned back toward her sister, "I was wondering if you wanted to meet up sometime, go do sister stuff." Maho smiled,

"All you had to do was ask sis." She said, "We all seem to have some spare time now, and I dare say that I might be able to cash in some of the spare time I have booked. I take it you don't want mother to find out about it?" Miho nodded, Maho continued, "You have your second round match next weekend, how about we go do sister stuff afterwards?"

"Sounds good." Said Miho.

"Commander." Cried a voice, both Nishizumi sisters turned toward the voice. Nicholas was sprinting towards them with an iPad in the crook of his arm. He came to a halt and caught his breath.

"You're going to want to see this." He said. He typed a few commands onto the iPad and pulled up a video.

"This is the coverage of St. Gloriana/ Pravda 1st round match." Said Nicholas.

"Let me guess." Said Maho, "Darjeeling got beaten."

"Nope, Sis and her team won." Said Nicholas,

"What?" asked Miho, taking more interest.

"How could St. Gloriana beat Pravda?" asked Maho curiously, "No way a Matilda could beat a T-34."

"The Matilda's are gone." Said Nicholas, "The St. Gloriana team consisted of 4 Sherman Firefly's, 4 Cromwell's, a comet and the big kicker, a Centurion MK3, and there aircraft was a rocket equipped Typhoon."

"That's going to be a problem," said Miho.

"Are you going to be facing them?" asked Maho,

"Not unless they make it to the finals." Said Nicholas, "But if they do, it's going to get rough."

"How rough are we talking?" asked Miho.

"Pravda's team had a IS-2 tank, 3, T-34-85's and 6 T-34-76's." Said Nicholas, "They lost every tank while only disabling 4 of the St. Gloriana tanks. That's how rough were talking. Oh and I was sent to tell you, all tanks and my spit are on their way back to the ship and the crews are all going out into the town to be back for cast off at 7:30."

"What are you going to do until then Nicholas?" asked Miho.

"Homework, target practice and light aerobic exercise with Mikoto." Said Nicholas. Miho snickered Maho looked at her curiously.

"Why is that funny?" she asked,

"Mikoto has a Black belt in Mixed Martial arts." Said Miho,

"And so do I." Said Nicholas, "I've been looking for a sparring partner, and if what I've heard is true... this is going to be good. See you later in school tomorrow." Nicholas turned and left the 2 sisters alone. Maho turned to her younger sister and said,

"Well I have the day off, want to go do some sister stuff?"

"Sure." Said Miho happily. The 2 walked off together, but it didn't go unnoticed how Miho looked back at Nicholas and Mikoto.

* * *

**Monday morning**

**Ōarai high school **

**8:20 am. Homeroom class 3-C**

Nicholas walked into his homeroom with a broad smile on his face. He was in a good mood for many reasons:

1) He and the Sensha-dō team had got through the first round with out much trouble.

2) He had met up with Erika again.

3) He had had a good sparing session with Mikoto.

Although the last reason was also the reason he was wearing a pair of aviator sunglasses. He sat down into his seat and sighed.

"Morning Nicholas." Said a voice. Nicholas looked over and smiled at the source of the voice.

"Morning Nara." He said,

"Cool shades." Said Nara, "Mind if I try them on?"

"Go ahead." Said Nicholas he removed the sunglasses and smirked at the shocked look plastered on his face as he gazed upon the night old black eye that dominated the left side of his face.

"What the hell happened to you?" asked Nara,

"What the hell to who?" asked Miho in a concerned voice as she, Hana and Saori walked up to their desks. Nicholas turned toward her and smiled,

"Morning Hana." He said. Miho looked at Nicholas with a look of shock on her face.

"Oh my." Said Hana in a concerned voice.

"Its fine," said Nicholas with a smile," I should be able to see out of it in a few days."

"What happened?" asked Saori,

"He had a Sparing match with Mikoto." Said Miho,

"Yeah," said Nicholas, "She's as good as they say." Miho suddenly burst out in anger.

"HOW CAN YOU BE OK WITH THIS?!" she yelled. Nicholas smiled,

"For 3 reasons," said Nicholas, "1. Because it was one of the best sparring sessions I've ever had. 2. I've made a new friend as a result, and finally 3. For the same reason you all climb into a tank and get shot at and the same reason I climb into my spitfire and dogfight... because it's a sport I love."

"How could you let this happen?" asked Saori, "I thought you were good at martial arts Nicholas." Nicholas smiled and said,

"You haven't seen Mikoto yet this morning have you?"

"No," said Hana, "Why?" Nicholas smiled and called loudly,

"Hey Mikoto! How's the shoulder?" Mikoto looked up from her desk, got up and walked toward the group crowded around Nicholas' desk. The 3 girls and Nara were shocked to see Mikoto's left arm in a sling made of a neck scarf.

"Fine thanks." She said with a smile, "How's the eye?"

"Probably worse than your shoulder." Said Nicholas, "You've got a mean right hook."

"I could say the same about your reverse turning kick" said Mikoto. Miho snapped and yelled,

"YOU BOTH ARE COMPLEATLY INSANE!" She immediately stormed out of the homeroom, leaving a roomful of stunned teenagers, surprised by the normally quiet girl's outburst. Saori was the first to recover. She said

"I'll go and talk to her." She walked out of the room in search of her friend. She eventually found her in her commanders seat in the panzer IV, crying her eyes out. She dropped the gunners hatch and climbed in. Placing a reassuring hand on her friends lap.

"Its ok." Said Saori,

"Why does he do it?" asked Miho through sobs, "Why does he risk hurting himself so much?"

"For the same reason that we climb into tanks" said Saori, "Because it's a sport we love."

"But were safe in armour." Said Miho, still streaming tears from her eyes, "He has nothing."

"Were not completely safe." Said Saori, "Remember what happened to Hana during our first match?"

"Yes but..." said Miho,

"Look," interrupted Saori, "I'm not defending Nicholas, but he, like us, participates in combat sports, and we all know and except the risks. His injury was a result of a match of one of the sports he loves and is dealing with it. Now dry your eyes, come back to class in your own time. Give Nicholas 5 minutes of hell then let him spend the rest of your lives making it up to him."

"But Saori..." replied Miho,

"DO YOU LOVE HIM?!" interrupted Saori. Miho jumped back, not having expected the question from her best friend.

"I don't know, I think..." said Miho nervously. Once again Saori interrupted, practically yelling at her friend.

"YES OR NO?!"

"YES!" yelled Miho back, she suddenly realised what she had said,

"Yes." She said quietly, "I think I do, but he likes Mikoto, how could I compete with her? She's tall, smart, beautiful, athletic..." Saori reached up and slapped her. She looked stunned at her best friend.

"Never let me hear you sounding so defeated ever again." Said Saori, "Now I'm going to go back to class, I'll send Nicholas to find you, work things out with him, one way or another." Saori climbed out of the hatch and left her friend alone in the panzer, leaving her to her thoughts.

* * *

Nicholas moved quickly through the empty corridors of the school, searching for Miho. After Saori had left, he had decided to go find her himself, despite Hana and Mikoto's beds attempts to stop him, he went anyway. Determined to find his friend and make up for being a complete jerk. As he turned off one corridor to search another, he spotted Saori walking in the other direction. She spotted him and moved toward him, a trace of anger evident on her face. Nicholas was the first to speak.

"Saori did you find Miho?.." Saori reached up and slapped Nicholas across the face.

"You Jerk!" she yelled, she slapped him again.

"Ok, I get it I'm a jerk." Said Nicholas, "Now please tell me why I'm a jerk?" Saori's face lit up with more anger and she was about to slap Nicholas a third time when Nicholas grabbed her arm before she could.

"Now why am I a jerk?" asked Nicholas. He released Saori's hand and looked straight at Saori, she took a deep breath and said,

"Because you made Miho really upset. I think she was upset because you don't seem to care about getting hurt and thus seem more willing to put yourself in danger, I think that when she saw your black eye and how you shrugged it off as nothing, you just upset her. She's in the Panzer IV in the Sensha-dō sheds, go see her." Nicholas nodded and took off down the corridor at a sprint. He made his way to the Sensha-dō sheds as quickly as he could, he rounded the corner into the hanger and saw Miho, leaning against the side of the Panzer IV, staring at the ground, still crying. Nicholas rushed for Miho. To a bystander it looked like he was going to attack her, but what happened was the complete opposite. Nicholas enveloped Miho in a tight hug. She was stunned by the sudden embrace. Nicholas was the first to speak,

"I'm sorry" he said, "I'm so, so sorry for being a jerk."

"No," said Miho, "I'm the one who over reacted."

"But understandably so" said Nicholas,

"I just don't know why." Said Miho, she looked up at Nicholas, "How can you be fine with tanking injuries like your eye and just shrug it off?"

"Simple." Said Nicholas, "When I first took up martial arts it was out of necessity. I was bullied and decided that the only way to learn to deal injuries was to sustain them. Over my martial arts career I've broken most major bones, and had many, many bruises and black eyes, it's nothing new to me."

"But Why do you take part in such risky sports?" asked Miho, still sobbing.

"For the same reason you sit in a tank and allow yourself to be shot at, because it's the sports we love." Said Nicholas with a warm smile. "But for you, I won't take as many risks in the future."

"Thank you." said Miho, burying her head into his chest. "I really don't want anything to happen to you." The 2 shared a moment in each other's arms. Miho was the one to break the silence.

"By the way" she said, "I was meaning to ask you, why did Erika say 'Happy Birthday' when she gave you that package yesterday?" Nicholas emitted a deep sigh,

"I was hoping you hadn't noticed that," he said, "It's my 18th birthday on Saturday." Miho looked up in surprise.

"Why didn't you tell me?!" asked Miho,

"I don't really celebrate it." Said Nicholas, "That said, I've got no doubt that my family and some of my friends will send me a card. Now, shall we head back to class, I dare say that we'll be in enough trouble already."

"Right." Said Miho. The two walked off toward the school. Meanwhile in the shadows of the Löwe, Yukari watched the pair heading back to class.

* * *

**Ōarai Sensha-dō sheds**

Miho climbed down from her panzer IV after another days training. She stretched out a knot that had been forming in her back from sitting in her commanders seat for the last few hours. She sighed, knowing what was going to happen next, 3...2...1... She was descended upon by the one of the student council members, Yuzu approached. She had a piece of paper in her hand and a smile on her face.

"Good news commander," said Yuzu, "We sold the Excelsior and the Saumur and got a fairly decent amount out of it. Enough that we could get some new parts for the Löwe and some upgrades to some of the rest of the tanks." Miho thought for a moment then said,

"What about the spitfire?"

"What about it?" asked Yuzu,

"Why not ask Nicholas if there's anything his spitfire could use for upgrades, but yes parts for the Löwe are the priority." Said Miho, "Anything else?"

"Yes" said Yuzu, "The schools shooting club is here to see you and Nicholas, apparently there interested in joining the team."

"Great," said Miho with a smile while mid stretch, "Where are they?"

"Over by the Stug." Said Yuzu with a smile.

"Thanks Yuzu." Said Miho, she walked over to where the Stug III was parked. Crowded around it was a group of 5 girls who made up the shooting team:

Rias Gremory, the tall, beautiful senior who was the president of the shooting team, her trademark deep scarlet hair flowing in the wind. Akeno Himejima, Rias' second in command, she was also tall and beautiful, her black hair tied in a long pony tail. Koneko Toujou, the first year student that kept to herself but was known to have surprising strength. And finally Xenovia, the blue haired, steely eyed transfer student from Europe.

"Rias." Said Miho. Rias looked up from the Stug and looked at the shorter girl.

"Miho." Said Rias with a smile, the rest of the shooting team looked up at Miho, all smiling.

"I gather you want to join the Sensha-dō team." Said Miho,

"Yes," said Rias, "Were all keen shooters and all good shots, and were also keen to try out some," she reached out and patted the Stug's gun, "Bigger guns."

"Well," said Miho, "were happy to have you but we don't have any functional tanks that don't have a crew already."

"That's not entirely true." Said A voice behind Miho. Miho turned to the voice, stood behind her were 2 girls, one tall one short, both dressed in Pravda uniforms.

"katyusha! Nonna!" said Miho happily, "What are you doing here?"

"Good to see you to Nishizumi" said Katyusha with a smile, "And we come bearing a gift."

"A gift?" asked Miho in a stunned voice,

" Something that, in the aftermath of our defeat by Darjeeling and her team, we have no need for, we thought you could put it to good use." Said Nonna,

"Yea" said a voice, "Sis seems just full of surprises this year." Katyusha looked at the voice. Nicholas walked towards them. He was dressed in a dark green jumpsuit and boots, dark patches covering his suit, he was whipping his hands with a rag.

"Nicholas," said Miho," How's the Spitfire?"

"Mechanic terms of English?" asked Nicholas with a smile.

"English please." Said Miho,

"Will need a new aileron and some new chords and piping but other than that, not bad. I'll have a list drawn up." Said Nicholas, he turned back toward the parked Spitfire.

"And draw up a list of things you could use to upgrade your spitfire!" called Miho after him,

"Got it!" came the call back, Nicholas waving his hand up in the air. Miho giggled,

"That's Nicholas," said Miho, "our pilot and sister to Darjeeling and Orange pekoe. Anyway," Not giving Katyusha and Nonna a chance to respond. "what is this present you bought us?" Before Nonna could respond, Yukari yelled form outside the Hanger,

"Hey! Who parked Pravda's T-54 out here?" Miho smiled and turned to Rias and said,

"looks like we've got you guys a tank." She turned back to Nonna and Katyusha,

"Let go see it." The 2 Pravda girls led the Ōarai group out to the waiting Panzer. Outside in the sun sat a dark green soviet legend. The T-54 was the father of the cold war soviet Main battle tanks all the way up to the Modern day T-90 used by the Russian army today. Yukari was climbing all over it in the midst of a panzer high, other team members were crowding around the tank. Katyusha was the first to speak,

"100mm D-10T2C gun, hull armour: 120mm at the front, 80 at the side and 45 at the rear. Turret armour is 200mm at the front, 160 at the side and 65 at the rear. Speed is good, tops out at about 56Kph weighs in at about 39 tons. Figured you could find use for it." Miho looked at the Russian panzer parked in front of her, she simply said,

"Thank you."

"No problem," said Nonna and Katyusha with a smile, "If you want we can show you the different stations?" added Nonna,

"Yes please." Said Miho, she turned to the Shooting team, and said, "Listen well, and show them respect," she turned back toward the 2 Pravda Commanders, I'm afraid I've got a dozen other things to do, so I'll leave them in your capable hands."

"Of course, I understand" said Katyusha. Miho nodded and left the shooting team in the capable hands of the Pravda commanders. She walked into the garage, returning to the organised chaos of the garage.

* * *

A few hours later, the sun was beginning to set over Ōarai. Most of the students had gone home, the only ones remaining were the auto club members, Nicholas, Yuzu and Miho. Miho walked up toward the Spitfire with Yuzu in tow. Nicholas was working on the engine when the 2 girls came up behind him. He spotted them and turned around to see them.

"Have you got the list of spares and upgrades yet?" asked Yuzu,

"Sure," said Nicholas, he reached into a pocket on his jumpsuit and pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to Miho, the 2 girls looked down the list.

"What's a paddle prop?" asked Yuzu,

"Propeller with a larger surface area," said Nicholas, "Increases rate of climb and speed."

"And this MW 50 injector?" asked Yuzu,

"The Americans called WAR emergency power," said Nicholas, "It's kind of like Nitro for a warplane, it increases power for a limited amount of time. The rest of the things are spares I need."

"We'll get those, but you could get more stuff, the budget will stretch further for you if you need more upgrades." Said Miho,

"My grandfather once said, 'you can't improve on perfection'" said Nicholas, "With those 2 upgrades, I think I've got something pretty damn close to perfection. Plus the Löwe needs the parts where as I don't" Yuzu turned and said,

"I'll get those bought, NARA!" Nara immediately appeared to her side. "Quick! To the Internet!" The 2 quickly dashed toward the President's office. Leaving Miho and Nicholas watching with stunned looks on their face.

"Seems Nara is happy around girls again." Said Nicholas,

"Yeah," said Miho, "You going to be ready for the next round on Sunday?"

"Should be, assuming the parts arrive." Said Nicholas, "Who is our opponent for the second round?"

"Leoville-barton academy" said Miho glumly,

"The French school?"" said Nicholas in surprise. "Don't they use mainly French early war heavies?"

"Yes, and that's going to be a problem." Said Miho,

"Why?" asked Nicholas,"We've got the firepower to take out a few B1's, I mean, what's the frontal armour of one? 50mm?" "60." Said Miho, "Exactly, most if not all of our guns will go through that. You're worrying too much." Said Nicholas," I'll be at the briefing this evening."

"See you there." Said Miho, as she left to tend to the rest of the crews.

* * *

Student council office, 6:30pm

The commanders of each of the Ōarai Sensha-dō crews sat in the comfortable chairs of the student council room. They had assembled for the pre second round match briefing. Anzu cleared her throat and said,

"Well, let's start the meeting, commander?"

"Right." Said Miho, taking over from Anzu, "Lets start with our opponent and tactics. Our opponent is Leoville-barton academy, a school that deploys a force of mainly Char B1 Bis' and BDR G1R, so Sodoko, what would you say is the main weakness of Mallard."Sodoko thought for a moment and said,

"Mallard is slow up hills, has a few engine problems, the commander gets over worked in the turret and the armour is relatively weak, as are the guns"

"So we need to out manoeuvre them or fire on them from long range." Said Rias,

"Right." Said Miho, "Also we have the battle field on our side." She rolled out a map. The battle field is the same one as we fought Kuromorimine the finals, so if we assume a hull down position on the hill, we'll have an advantage."

"Any idea what aircraft we might face Nicholas?" Asked Momo, all eyes turned to Nicholas. He said,

"Yeah about that, I've got no clue. The French just didn't make that many good fighters."

"Well, we'll just have to wing it." Said Anzu. Everyone groaned at the bad pun. Miho decided to move the meeting along and said,

"Nakajima, how's the Löwe coming?"

"Were getting there," said Nakajima, "Subject to getting a crew, we should be ready for the Semi- finals, fingers crossed."

"Good work." Said Miho, "I assume everyone else's panzers will be ready?" All the commanders nodded, "Right then, for the moment, the team is as follows: Anglerfish, Leopon, Hippo, Mallard, Anteater, Rhino, Penguin, turtle, Fox and lastly, the T-54. Rias, you and your team will need to come up with a animal name for your team.

"Got it." Said Rias with a smile.

"Right, that's sorted, so meeting adjourned, see you tomorrow." Said Miho. The commanders left the room, they still had a week to prepare for the coming battle, it was sure to be packed with prep.

* * *

**Second round assembly area**

** 07:30am**

The Ōarai Sensha-dō team worked in their bays, prepping their panzers for the second round of the tournament. Miho, completed her rounds of the various panzers and was about to go to her team when Anzu came up to her and said, "All ready commander?"

"Ready to go Anzu." Said Miho,

"Good, then you can come and greet our guests." Said Anzu. Miho looked confused when a trio of girls, all dressed in uniforms baring the Leoville-barton academy emblem. One had long dark hair and green eyes. Another had long flowing blond hair that cascaded over her shoulders. The final seemed to be a younger version of the first girl. All were beautiful. The leader stepped forward and raise her hand and said,

"You must be Miho Nishizumi. I'm Amanda Lorraine, call me Champaign. These are my second in command, Rose and my pilot and younger sister Chardonnay." "Nice to meet you." said Miho, taking her hand and shaking it. She briefly turned and called,

"Momo! Nicholas! Front and center!" Nicholas double timed it over from his perch on the Conqueror, leaping from its turret and abandoning his game with the other boys on the team. Momo calmly walked over from her seat on the Hetzer toward Miho. "These are my second in command Momo and our Pilot Nicholas white."

"So," Said Chardonnay, "Your the great ' Ōarai Spitfire'?" Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"I've been called that." Said Nicholas, choosing caution instead of his usual cheery self. "I've heard you've called other things." Chardonnay said, "Like a cheater."

Everyone in the hanger stopped and stared, horrified looks were worn by everyone, all eyes on Nicholas. Nicholas stared straight at Chardonnay. Miho looked at Nicholas, almost afraid of what he might do. Nicholas took a deep breath and said,

"I can assure you, I have never cheated at anything since I was 7, and I somehow doubt that you're talking about a family monopoly game."

"I'm talking how you managed to win a national championship, score a total of 55 kills, and most recently, beat Erika in your dogfight with her last week. Erika taught me how to dogfight; she wouldn't lose to the likes of you." Nicholas sighed deeply and said,

"When I first met Erika, she was had an ego the size of China and the flying skills of a blind seagull. I took her as my student and made her into a pilot that few could better. As for the first round match, she baited me like a pro; she drew me straight into the sights of their Flakpanzer and nearly shot me out of the sky. Now, the match is due to start, I have a plane too prep, and you do too. I wish you the best of luck, and will see you later." Nicholas turned and headed to toward his Spitfire. The Leoville-barton girls turned and left to finish their preparations. Miho and the rest of the team returned to their preparations. Miho watched Nicholas carefully,

she was worried,

worried at what Chardonnay had provoked.


	7. Chapter 7

New friends, new horizons

**Chapter 7: **

**2****nd**** round battle, aftermath, new appointment**

**2****nd**** round battlefield,**

**Ōarai starting position**

**8:00am **

"Match Start!"

The Ōarai panzers started forward from their starting positions, moving into a cruising V formation, heading for the hill that they had held out on against the Kuromorimine onslaught during the finals. Miho had come up with a good plan, but they needed to get there before the Leoville-barton panzers could get there. And that's where Nicholas came in, he was to find and slow down the Leoville-barton panzers so that the Ōarai panzers would have time to get into position.

Meanwhile, Nicholas sat in his spitfire, he was flying straight and level toward the Leoville-barton starting position. He was thinking, thinking about what Chardonnay had said, it was really bugging him. His radio crackled into life, bringing him from his musings, Miho came over the radio,

"_Nicholas? You there?" _

"Always." Said Nicholas, he tried with little success to keep the sound of annoyance out of his voice,

"_Nicholas" said Miho, "Don't let what Chardonnay said get you down, and do me a favour... Kick her ass." _Nicholas smiled and said,

"Yes Ma'am." Nicholas closed the link and throttled up. He barrel rolled to scan the ground, trying to spot the Leoville-barton panzers, he saw something, a slight discoloration against the ground. He levelled out, circling so he could see what had got his attention. He smiled, 6 Char B1Bis' 3 BDR G1B's and an AMX M4 mle. 45. Nicholas smirked, one thought crossed his mind,

"Targets acquired." Nicholas dived, heading for the assembled French heavies. They were travelling toward the hill in a nucleated group, the flag tank at the center. Nicholas flicked the cannon arming switch, thumbing the fire control on his stick. He released a stream of rockets from under his wings. They impacted in amongst the panzers, 1 of the 4 rockets hitting its target, the other 3 impacting the ground impacting around the panzers. Nicholas smiled, 1 char B1 knocked out, another along with a BDR 1 tracked. But most importantly, he had sewed confusion. He broke away, climbing away from the carnage. But he made a rookie error... he was so focused on his target that he forgot to check his tail.

* * *

Miho looked out of the cupola from her Panzer IV, she was watching for any signs of the enemy. Saori emerged from her cupola and said,

"Miho, Rias and Anzu have set up and ready."

"Good, Anything from penguin team?" asked Miho,

"They said they've found the Leoville-barton panzers, and that Nicholas quote, 'just laid down the hurt'." Said Saori. Miho smirked, sounded like Nicholas was having fun. The rest of the team were busy, digging tank ditches for their panzers so that when the Leoville-barton panzers arrived, they would be ready, they would be in for a nasty surprise.

* * *

Nicholas levelled out and circled accelerated, he was going to get some distance so he would have a longer time to strafe the enemy. But a voice whispered in his ear.

"_Brake left..." _It was a voice that Nicholas hadn't heard in years, and only when he was in deep shit... it was Johns. Tracer streaked past his cockpit, he immediately snapped left, he started climbing, his new paddle prop gaining him speed and altitude. He looked back, craning his neck to try to see his opponent, he saw it, a Dewoitine D.520, a classic French fighter from world war 2, a dangerous opponent, 1 20mm cannon, 4 7.5mm machine guns, good manoeuvrability. However, it couldn't match the spitfire for raw power. Nicholas quickly formulated a plan. He snapped over, draw her in and keep her there, on his tail. He pressed the radio,

"Ōarai Spitfire to Anglerfish Team, priority red!"

"_Nicholas, what can I do for you?" _said Saori on the other end of the radio. Nicholas Jinked to avoid another stream of tracer.

"Put Miho on NOW!" Said Nicholas,

"_One moment, your on." _Said Saori, there was a pause in the radio and Miho came over the radio,

"_Nicholas, what's wrong?" _

"I've got the Leoville-Barton fighter right on my tail, and far more dangerously, I've got a plan." Said Nicholas, a grin plastered behind his oxygen mask.

"_Which is?" _asked Miho with a sense of dread,

"The Leoville-barton team, don't know where you are, I'm going to lead their fighter right to you, she'll report back to the panzers, they'll come running, you can ambush them." Said Nicholas.

"_Good plan, but how are you going to shoot her down?" _ Asked Miho,

" I've got a trick up my sleeve, don't worry, I saw this in a film once, Ōarai spitfire out." Nicholas hung up, grinning at the thought of the look on Miho's face.

* * *

"Oh god." Said Miho. Nicholas had just hung up with the words, 'Don't worry, I saw this in a film once'.

"What?" asked Saori,

"Nicholas is completely crazy." Said Miho with a sheepish grin. Hana, who was busy, reattaching the spade onto the hull of the panzer, grinned,

"And that's why you love him." She said, Miho looked at her in horror, Hana giggled and clanked at Saori, who was wearing the sleepiest grin any of them had ever seen. Miho sighed when Nicholas' Spitfire, followed by an aircraft with the Leoville-barton school logo on it, a few seconds passed, then, Nicholas did something that left everyone speechless.

* * *

Chardonnay was pleased and frustrated at the same time. She had the great Ōarai Spitfire on the run, she had been chasing him since he had made an attack run on her teams panzers. The annoying bit was that she couldn't land a hit on him; he was jinking all over the sky and she couldn't land a shot on him. The 2 fighters chased each other over the sky, suddenly forest gave way to a meadow and a large hill, as the fighters flew over the hill, something caught Chardonnays eye, it was the Ōarai panzers, digging in on the hill. She pressed her radio, calling her sister in the AMX M4 mle. 45.

"Chardonnay to Champaign, Chardonnay to Champaign, you read my sis?"

"_Got you sis, you shot down that damn spitfire yet?" _asked Champaign over the radio,

"No but I've found something better, 7 of the 10 Ōarai panzers are digging in on the ridge, and I'm willing to bet the others are scouting." Said Chardonnay, taking her eyes off Nicholas for a moment, I mean, what could he do in a few seconds. After a few seconds, she returned her vision to were the Spitfire was only to find its space was vacant, the next thing she heard was the sounds of impacts and the sound of her green smoke deploying.

* * *

Nicholas looked back over his shoulder; he saw the Chardonnay's head turned toward the panzers on the ridge. He smirked and decided to try something he had once seen in a cartoon. He throttled up, pulled back on the stick, he then cut the throttle and stamped on the rudder, spinning the fighter round to the right, as the Leoville-barton fighter shot in front of him, he squeezed the fire control, gunned the engine, and strained on the stick to keep the fighter airborne, He saw the flicker of impacts as the Dewoitine D.520 shuddered and then, its green smoke deployed. Nicholas smirked and put the Spit straight and level, trying to regain some of the precious speed that he had lost in the crazy ass manoeuvre he just pulled. He wondered what his Kreigsflieger instructor would have thought, probably would have busted him back to basics, but hey, he wasn't here to know about it.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the spectator stands

Amongst the large horde of family and school mates that had turned out to watch the Ōarai/ Leoville- Barton game was a man in his mid 60's. He wore a leather Irving jacket with various parches sewn into the sleuths. The entire stand of spectators watched the giant screen in awe at how the Ōarai spitfire had shot down the Leoville- Barton fighter in seemingly 1 smooth manoeuvre. The old man smiled, he was going to be speaking to Nicholas about this.

* * *

Miho watched as Nicholas climbed away from his victim, she was utterly aghast at what Nicholas had just done. Leopon team cheered and everyone broke into a round of applause. Miho pressed her throat mic and said into it,

"Nicholas, where the hell did you find that?"

"_Red tails." _Said Nicholas over the radio, _"Also, you might want to get ready, the Frenchies are within visual range and will probably be firing at you any minute." _Miho immediately pressed her binoculars to her eyes, surly enough, at the end of the field, advancing toward them, were 9 French tanks advancing towards them in a rough nucleated formation with the flag tank in the center. Miho immediately yelled out to the dismounted crews,

"Back in your panzers, enemy incoming." The crews immediately got into their panzers, turrets started aiming and guns were loaded, ready to fire. Miho dropped into her Panzer IV, Hana already had her eyes pressed to the gun sight.

"Hana, what do you see?" asked Miho,

"As Nicholas would say," said Hana with an uncharacteristically evil smile, "A target rich environment. AMX 45 mle .45 is leading the charge, the flag B1 is surrounded by the BDR's. The other B1's are surrounding the formation."

"Get me a line to the team." Said Miho,

"Open." Said Saori,

"Right listen in, they have short barrel 47mm, short and long 75mm guns and a 105 mm gun. They won't be able to fire on mass till they get closer, Leopon, take out the AMX 45, everyone else, pick your targets, Rias, Anzu, you in position?"

"_This is bear team," _said Rias over the radio, "_Ready to spring the trap on your orders commander."_

"_This is turtle," _Said Anzu, "_Ready to fire on your command Miho." _Miho took a deep breath, hopefully this would work, she pressed the comlink and shouted,

"All teams, open fire!" All along the Ōarai line, 7 panzers opened fire. Shelling the Barton panzers, masses of dirt was kicked up around the French tanks, with the occasional glint of a ricochet or impact, columns of smoke rose from 2 of the B1's. As the Ōarai bombardment ceased, there was a moment of silence, and Leo- Barton responded. The ground shook under the impact of the return volley. A 47mm round glanced of the front of Miho's panzer IV, another wedged itself in Leopon's front plate. A 105mm impacted the front of the Conqueror, its white knocked out flag deploying with its signature snap. Miho looked annoyed, the Conqueror had their most accurate gun, now either Leopon or Hana would have to take out the flag tank, unless the trap worked.

* * *

Rias looked out through her binoculars toward the Leo- Barton panzers, they were facing toward the hill to her left, they were showing their side armour toward her concealed panzer. She and Anzu had been ordered to take up concealed firing positions in the 2 forests either sides of the approach to the hill, they were to remain hidden until Miho gave the order to attack. Xenovia called up from the loaders position,

"Ready to fire."

"I've got the gun lined up on a BDR 1, ready to fire on your order Rias." Said Akeno from the gunners seat. Rias pressed her throat mic and said,

"Koneko- Chan, as soon as Akeno has fired, move us at full speed toward the enemy team, Xenovia, as soon as Akeno has fired, start reloading. When we get next to the flag tank, take it out.

"Yes commander" All the crew said to Rias, as she finished, the radio crackled into life,

"_Bear team, Turtle team, the word is given, commence attack." _Immediately Turtle teams Hetzer, concealed in the forest opposite Rias' position, fired, hitting a B1 on the far side, this drew attention away from the yet to be reviled T54's position.

"Fire!" shouted Rias, The 100mm gun kicked back violently as it spat an armour piercing shell straight into the side of a BDR 1, the victim tank immediately stopped and its white flag deployed. Following her orders, Koneko kicked the T54 into gear, it lurched forward from behind the bush it had been hiding behind and accelerated, heading for the assembled French tanks at high speed. A few of the Leoville- Barton tanks' turrets began to turn in an attempt to engage the charging Russian tank, but to no avail, the T54 swerved to avoid their aim. A pair of B1's fired, more hoping for a hit than an actual hit, one shot glanced off the turret, the other did significantly more damage.

"They've taken out the main gun!" yelled Akeno, looking back at Rias expectantly, Rias immediately formulated a backup plan, she pressed her mic and said,

"Koneko, ram the flag tank, try to hit its tracks, and everyone brace for impact."

"What?" exclaimed Akeno and Xenovia, looking at Rias as if she were crazy.

"You heard me." Said Rias a bit more sternly,

"Yes Rias." Said Koneko from the driver's seat, she pushed the throttle harder, squeezing every last ounce of power from the 700 horse power V-14 engine. They swerved around various tanks till they had a clear line of site at the flag B1, it attempted to swing its huge bulk around to face them, its 47mm gun attempting to track it. The Ōarai team shut all the hatches and strapped themselves into the seats and braced themselves against whatever they could as the Russian tank collided with the B1 at full speed. Rias heaved herself out of the top of the T54 just as the white flag popped from the top of the turret, she looked over at the mammoth B1 to happily see the a white flag fluttering in the breeze and a wrecked track strewn over the hull on the T54. An announcement then came over the radio,

"_The Leoville- Barton Flag tank has been immobilised! The winner is Ōarai high school!"_

* * *

"_The Leoville- Barton Flag tank has been immobilised! The winner is Ōarai high school!" _Miho, rather than breathing a sigh of relief, immediately said to Saori with a sense of urgency,

"Saori, get me bear team." Saori, immediately tuned the radio into the correct channel, she nodded to Miho to signal that she was connected. Miho practically yelled into her throat mic,

"Rias! Are you and your crew ok?!" There was a brief pause and Rias came back over the radio,

"_Were fine Miho, few bruises and a small cut, nothing the onboard med- kit and a good night's sleep won't fix_."

"Good, wait for the pickup, out." Said Miho. The Panzer IV along with the remainder of the still mobile Ōarai panzers started heading back toward the assembly area.

* * *

Nicholas watched as his team mates returned to their assembly area. The panzers pulled into their bays and one by one, their engines stopped. As Anglerfish team climbed out Nicholas walked up toward the panzer. Miho looked at him and smiled. Nicholas embraced her in a warm hug,

"Congratulations commander." He said to her,

"You did not too bad yourself." Said Miho, she loosened the hug and looked at him, "how did you pull off that crazy manoeuvre?"

"Being an amazing pilot." Said Nicholas smugly,

"You mean by cheating!" exclaimed a sharp voice from behind them. Nicholas sighed, recognising the voice, he turned around and eyed the angry Chardonnay that was stalking toward him, behind her was a very defeated Champaign and a pair of officials.

"Like I said earlier," said Nicholas, his voice icy with frustration, "I haven't cheated at anything in years."

"Bullshit!" yelled Chardonnay," There is no way you could have done that manoeuvre without losing control of your aircraft at those speeds without a computer. A upgrade that is banned by the rules, is it not judges?!" One of the Judges stepped forward and said,

"This is true, at those speeds you wouldn't have been able to maintain control of your aircraft, thus your aircraft is to be confiscated and searched for any illegal upgrades and if any are found you and your team shall be disqualified." Before Nicholas could respond in complaint, a voice from behind him said,

"Now hold your horses their missy." Everyone stared at the old man, he was dressed in an Irving flying jacket and had a walking stick in one hand. Nicholas immediately snapped to attention and into a sharp salute,

"Flying officer Browning Sir!" he said, the elderly gentleman chuckled and said

"At ease cadet white, and it was squadron leader Browning when I retired. And I also would like to also vouch for his honesty and skill, and I can prove that he didn't cheat."

"And what qualifies you to determine that?" sneered Chardonnay, Mr. Browning's eyes narrowed, Nicolas scoffed and said

"Squadron leader Browning was a fighter Ace in the battle of Britain and more recently a senior member of the Kreigsflieger commissioning association, and more informally, the person who taught me to fly a spitfire."

"We will hear what he has to say." Said one of the judges before Chardonnay could complain,

"Thank you," said Mr. Browning, " If attempted in a unmodified spitfire, you would be correct, the manoeuvre would have been impossible, but I believe that young Nicholas has modified his Spitfire..."

"Exactly!" exclaimed Chardonnay, "With a flight computer!"

"No and if you will shut your trap and listen young lady you will understand why," said Mr Browning, Everyone bar Nicholas hid a smirk. "Young Nicholas has fitted a MW 50 injector and a paddle prop, these will have increased, acceleration and rate of climb, but this increased power would have made such a maneuver possible, and I'm sure Nicholas will allow spitfire to be checked and I can call 5 Kreigsflieger pilots that can vouch for Nicholas' honesty and skill."

"Absolutely," said Nicholas, "I will turn over my spitfire for examination, so long as you will treat it with the highest respect and care and that it will be ready for the semi- finals against Saunders."

"I guarantee it, you will be informed when it is ready and any damages will also be repaired." Said one of the judges.

"My thanks," said Nicholas. As the matches ushers moved the Spit away. Chardonnay moved in on Miho, she stalked up to her and said to her harshly,

"Listed and listen well. You are harbouring a cheater and I will see to it that he and the rest of your team are exposed as cheaters." Miho was taken aback by this. Nicholas, turned from gathering some things from his Spitfire before it was taken for inspection, and walked toward Chardonnay threateningly.

"I think it's best if you leave now." He said coldly,

"Why?" Snarked Chardonnay, "You wouldn't hit a woman."

"He might not, but I will." Said A voice, Chardonnay turned and saw Kay walking toward her, a cross look on her face.

" I've never known Nicholas to hesitate when someone he loves is threatened." said Another voice, Darjeeling and Orange also walked toward Chardonnay, annoyance laced across their normally calm faces.

"And I've got no problem with defending my sister." Said A final voice, this time it was Maho and Erika. Chardonnay quickly realised that she was surrounded, not only by some of the most renowned Sensha-dō commanders, but also by the entire of the Ōarai Sensha-dō team, all looking **Very **pissed off. Darjeeling looked at Chardonnay and said with a wolfish grin,

"I suggest you leave while you still can... without having to be carried away." Chardonnay glared at Darjeeling before turning on her heals and stalking out of the group, the group parting to allow her to exit. Satisfied that Chardonnay was no longer a threat, the Ōarai crews went back to what they were doing, the various team commanders lost the angry looks and returned to what they had originally set out to do, congratulate Miho on her victory.

"Congratulations Sis." Said Maho, a warm smile on her face.

"Nice job kid," said Kay, "See you in the semi's."

"Your pilots gonna have to be careful Kay." Said Erika, "I haven't seen Nicholas do something that bat-ass crazy since he tried to fly a hurricane through a hangar to prove he was a good pilot." Nicholas snorted at the memory.

"That's impressive," said Maho, "But surly after they'd cleared out the hanger they would have seen what he was tried to do." Erika and Nicholas chuckled and Mr Browning said with intense amusement,

"He didn't know until the maintaince workers in the hanger were ducking for cover under the aircraft they were still working on." While all of the non- pilots had a look of astonishment on their faces, all the pilots, (Nicholas, Erika and Mr Browning) were laughing their heads off at the memory. Kay turned to Miho and said,

"See you in the next round, and this time I'll check that Alisa leaves the radio interception balloons behind." Miho snickered and said,

"Bring them; it was fun misleading you during our last match." Both Kay and Miho laughed briefly. Kay turned to leave with a smile on her face. Looking forward to their next match. Nicholas turned to his sisters and said,

"Man you guys are full of surprises this year. Nice Typhoon by the way, anyone I know flying it?"

"Thank you." said Darjeeling, and yes an old mutual acutance of ours ." Nicholas looked stunned,

"You don't mean..." Darjeeling smirked,

"Yes, it's her." She said. Nicholas immediately groaned, she was the last person he wanted to face in a dogfight. He saw Elizabeth and Hannah smirking at him. He sighed and said

"Well at least I don't have to deal with your Cromwell's and firefly's, or that centurion, that reminds me, I see you've found a good home for the comet."

"I see you found a good home for the Conqueror." Said Elizabeth in response, "Good luck in the next round against Saunders."

"Good luck in your round against Tokyo high; although I don't think you'll need it." Said Nicholas,

"Oh, I don't know," said Elizabeth with a chuckle, "Their O-I tank could cause us some problems, and also they've got a good Zero pilot on their side."

"Well she's no pushover with that Typhoon of yours." Said Nicholas, "We'll see you in the finals." He embraced his 2 sisters in a warm brotherly hug, and returned to readying his Spitfire for inspection.

* * *

**Ōarai high school lunch hall **

**12:45 am**

Nicholas sat at his usual table in the Lunch hall at Ōarai high school, he was in a bit of a down mood because he hadn't flown his spitfire in 3 days since the 2nd round match, that, and he didn't like leaving the spit in someone else's care. He was bought from his glum musings by a group of people standing next to him, he looked up and from his plate to see, Nara, Sora, Suga and Tsubasa, the lads of Rhino team.

"Mind if we join you?" asked Nara,

"No, by all means, sit down." Said Nicholas. The 4 lads sat down around the table, and the inevitable banter started.

"So," said Nicholas, looking at Nara, "What's going on with you and Yuzu?" Nara's face turned scarlet with embarrassment causing the other 4 teenagers to start laughing.

"Were just good friends." Said Nara, hoping they would buy it.

"That's not what I heard." Said Sora in a sing song voice. Nara immediately turned to Sora,

"Silence Sora!" he ordered.

"What have you heard?" asked Nicholas inquisitively. Everyone turned to Sora in anticipation. Sora smirked and said,

"A little bird told me that our vice- president and our good friend Nara here were making out in her Hetzer after the last round match." Everyone at the tables' mouth dropped and they all stared at Nara who had turned as scarlet as Rias' hair. They all immediately burst out into uncontrollable laughter, applauding Nara as they did.

"Congratulations lad, you've pulled!" said Nicholas, barely able to speak through his uncontrollable bouts of laughter. They continued to laugh when the PA system came over.

"_Nicholas white from standard education class 3-C, report to the student council office immediately. Repeat, Nicholas white from standard education class 3-C, report to the student council office immediately"_. Nicholas recovered from his laughter, whipping a tear from his eye and stood up to leave, patting Nara on the way out, pausing just to say,

"Lads, obey the code, rule 22." They all nodded, not a word of this was to be spoken unless authorised by Nara or if it had become public knowledge. Satisfied, Nicholas continued to head to the Student council's office. He soon arrived and tapped on the ornate door.

"Enter." Said Anzu on the other side of the door. Nicholas opened the door and walked into the office. Inside were Anzu and the other 2 members of the student council. Anzu then said,

"Ah Nicholas, come in." Nicholas stopped just short of the president's desk, adopting a formal but comfortable 'at ease' position.

"Firstly," said Anzu, "You'll be happy to hear that your spitfire has been cleared of suspicions of having illegal equipment and shall be returned sometime tomorrow." Nicholas smiled, that was the best news he had heard all day. Anzu continued,

"Now for the main reason why I called you up here. Tell me, how would you rate your overall performance at Ōarai since joining?" Nicholas thought for a moment and said

"I'd say a solid B." Anzu raised an eyebrow at him,

"Minus." He added.

"Well," said Anzu, "Many of the senior faculty have been impressed with your performance," she typed a few things into her computer and read from the screen, "Average grade achievement of A-, teachers comments, works hard, punctual, devoted, helpful in class. Homeroom teacher evaluation, 'Nicholas is punctual and hard working, puts the maximum amount of effort into his work and will succeed in later life'." Anzu returned her gaze to Nicholas and continued, "It has also been decided that the school will become co-ed from next year and thus has opened a pair of new positions for the student council, while we are still looking for a counterpart we have decided," she paused for dramatic effect, "that were making you Head boy, Congratulations." Nicholas looked Stunned for a moment, letting what Anzu had just told him sink in.

"T-Thank you." he said still surprised,

"You'll have to attend student council meetings and assemblies, but you'll get your own desk in this office and be able to come and eat here during lunch if you wish." Said Anzu,

"Thank you but I think I'll still eat in the lunch hall, so I can eat with Miho and the lads."

"Yes, how's it going with Miho incidentally?" asked Anzu. Nicholas was taken aback by this, he thought how to respond for a moment and said,

"Not as well as Nara and Yuzu, but" smirking as Anzu and Momo stared at Yuzu and Yuzu blushed, staring at the floor, "I think it's going well."

"Well you'll like what we've got planned then." Said Anzu. She slid a piece of paper over to the newly appointed head boy. Nicholas picked up the paper, examining it, he smiled, this was going to be good.

* * *

**Hi readers,**

**Hope you liked the chapter, if you want to see what Nicholas' 'bat-ass crazy' manouver, here is a link to youtube with the manouver from the film red tails (check it out its a good film.) **

** watch?v=5MYnIMWKAnU**

**I've also got a few other things to say:**

**firstly i'd like to thank you for sticking with the story as far as you have, it will be updated but not regularly as i have to fit it around my studies at school (groan). **

**secondly, while I appreciate suggestions i would prefer them to be sent by PM rather than as a review.**

**Also if there is the odd spelling mistake do please let it slide, I'm Dyslexic and have trouble with these sort of things. **

**Again thank you for suggestions and sticking with it, the next chapter will probably be out for Christmas but no promises, **

**from **

**jangocommando27 **


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